A Family Thing
by lubelle321
Summary: I love the idea of Adrien and Marinette not being only children. So, what happens in the series if they each have an older brother and Marinette's cousin moves to Paris? (Rating is bc I'm not done and ideas may change)
1. Origins

_(A/N off the bat I'd like to say the idea for Marinette's older brothe__r came from _sabertoothwalrus _and I own nothing)_

**20 yr PreOrigins**

Things couldn't be better for Tom Dupain. He was marrying the woman of his dreams, moving to the city of light, and opening a new patisserie. No, nothing could make this better...except maybe understanding Mandarin. Sabine's family was wonderful, but strict; well maybe not strict per se, but traditional. With a language barrier, Tom was always on high alert in case he accidentally offended someone.

"Calm down," said an accented voice, "No one here will hurt you. If you weren't good for Sabine she would never have said yes. We accepted long ago that she could take care of herself." Scott, Sabine's brother, was trying to sooth Tom's nerves.

"It's just that everything needs to be perfect today."

"No, everything needs to flow forward, and perfection is stagnant. Take this city for instance! It's far from perfect, but it's beautiful and right."

Beautiful and right. Yes, that's what his marriage would look like.

.

The ceremony went smoothly and the reception's few hiccups were easily resolved. The happy couple was nearly oblivious to their surroundings and Scott was usually found just outside, searching the skyline.

"Something wrong?" asked Qianru, his wife of two years.

"We should live here," he answered immediately. The look on her face told how obviously surprised she was. "Not now!" he amended, "but someday…"

She slowly nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.

**15 yr PreOrigins**

Five years later Sabine found herself thinking, _It's nice to have someone to talk to during trying times like these, _as she spoke with Qianru. Three months after she found out that her and Tom were about to have their first child she heard from her brother that they were expecting too! Now Qianru was due in one month's time and Sabine was attempting to put the finishing touches around the apartment within the next two months.

"I can't wait to sleep on my back again!" Qianru cried over the phone, "I feel like a turtle when I wake up in the morning!"

"I know the feeling! They estimate Anthony will weigh 5 kilograms!" Sabine laughed to her sister-in-law.

"I hope he and Bridgette become the best of friends," sighed Qianru.

That night both women lay in bed envisioning the two children playing.

A year later another little girl was added to their visions.

**5 yr PreOrigins**

Everything changed and no matter how many times Mom says "It will all work out," Bridgette knows things happen; some happy things, some fun things, some tragic things. But knowing that we can't change those things doesn't make them easier to deal with. Dad was a cop. He worked with criminals. He always insisted that you must cherish every moment, because one day a misplaced bullet could mean he wouldn't come home. Mamma hated that he said this to me. "She's just a child! You'll frighten her!" she would screech. I disagreed because he was being honest and treating me like I mattered as much as an adult; I was glad he told me about the misplaced bullets...but he never mentioned the drunk drivers.

Bridgette Cheng was only ten, but she was far from stupid. Her mother and she were both in "shock" for the first week; she read about that in one of her novels. They both kept waiting for Dad to walk through the front door while they were home. Her mother and she were also about to be in debt; that she had heard her mother arguing with Grandma and Grandpa about. They were used to living off two incomes and now only had one. Bridgette loved her father's parents, but she didn't want to leave her mother, and that's what it sounded like they were suggesting-that Bridgette live with them instead. She was glad Mom refused.

Now, she was experiencing "survivor's guilt." She read that in a pamphlet at the office the school made her go to. They asked odd questions: did she know it was okay to cry? did she feel safe? when did she last eat? She wasn't stupid! She knew she was allowed to laugh! But when she did she would think "I can't wait to tell Dad!" and remember… Honesty was more important than pretending everything was okay right now, because it wasn't. But someday it would be okay...just different.

**4 mo PreOrigins**

"Alright! Let's get unpacked!" How she sounded so chipper was beyond Bridgette's understanding, but her mom did her best to enthusiastically hop around the new apartment opening boxes and seeing what was in each of them.

"You said you would explain the move when we got here...we're here." Qianru heaved a heavy sigh as she sat on the closest box.

"Let's unpack as much as we can first, then we'll go on a field trip tonight."

"Field trip! WOO HOO! Field trips rule!" a familiar masculine voice interrupted.

"ANTHONY!" She flew into my cousin's arms as soon as he cleared the door. He caught and spun her easily, as he was a full head taller and was built very much like his father. "Is Marinette with you?" Bridgette asked laughingly as she found her feet.

"Hi Bridgette!" Marinette greeted as she came across the threshold holding three boxes of macaroons. Unfortunately, she absently waved in greeting as she entered, dropping the boxes and then over-corrected when she tried to catch them, effectively throwing them in the other direction. Anthony stepped back to catch them as they flew and with his sudden absence Bridgette tripped and she and Marinette ended up on the floor, with Anthony behind them munching on a macaroon. Within three heartbeats they all dissolved into giggles. It felt good to laugh. She didn't get to see these cousins often enough, but apparently that was going to change. Perhaps moving to Paris would be good after all.

.

The view was beautiful, the skyline perfectly capturing Paris. This was Tom and Sabine's venue for their wedding nearly 20 years ago.

"He told me he wanted to live here. He loved the idea of Paris, always wanted us to move here. But we could never both find a job here…"

Everyone knew she was talking about Scott. Bridgette knew he wanted to visit his sister and her cousins as often as possible, but had no idea he had wanted to live here.

"We'll live his dream," Bridgette promised as she grabbed her mom's hand. Anthony and Marinette each placed a hand on her shoulder.

**2 mo PreOrigins**

"What do you mean I won't be in Anthony's class?!"

"Sweetheart, you were accepted into this school and I know you won't know anyone when you start there, but you'll make fast friends quickly, I'm sure. This school is geared towards business ideals and I _know_ you want to own and manage your own shop someday." Seeing the less than convinced face of her daughter Qianru added, "It'll be great! You'll see!" The 15 year old remained unconvinced.

"This is ridiculous! I have the opportunity to actually _know_ someone here and you just push me into seclusion!"

"Bridgette, be reasonable. Think about the future you're always telling me you want and then tell me what school will help you to achieve that." The teen fell silent and simply scowled at the floor.

**1st Day of School (Stoneheart)**

Going through classes Bridgette was glad to see she got along with most of her peers and was immediately welcomed into a group consisting of Jade, Damen, Samson, and Connie. Jade was the first one to introduce herself, and her twin, Damen, was very kind as well. Connie was Damen's girlfriend and very interested in every detail she could think to ask about China. Samson was fairly quiet, adding in details that were relevant to the conversation or reminding his friends to curb their curiosity enough to still be polite and not overwhelm Bridgette too much.

Shortly after the day began though, interesting things developed. The teacher gave a surprised gasp as she watched her computer and then began projecting the news on the front board.

"**As incredible as it seems, it's been confirmed that Paris is indeed being attacked by a supervillain. The police have been struggling to keep the situation under control."**

The statement was followed by some field crew interviewing the police.

"Is this...normal?" Bridgette asked tentatively.

"No." The monosyllable was so forceful and unexpected she jumped in her seat and whirled around to see the most handsome boy she's every laid eyes on. With styled blond locks and pine green eyes, his face was schooled into indifference, despite his claim that the situation was unexpected. That was the first word she heard him speak. He didn't look at her, only continued scrutinizing the television when her wonderings about him were interrupted by Nadja Chamack's voice stating that the incident was taking place at a very familiar location.

"That's my cousins' school!" She made to move, to help, to do anything but was stopped at the door.

"I'm sorry Miss Cheng, but I am responsible for your welfare at the moment and can't let you leave. You'll be perfectly safe here," was the courteous instruction from Mrs. Dame.

"But I need to make sure Anthony and Marinette are okay!" She cried.

"The authorities will handle everything, I'm sure."

The two continued arguing for a few moments as Bridgette became more and more desperate to leave. Mrs. Dame failed to notice the silent exchange between Jade and the blond who answered her question earlier. Finally, reluctantly, the boy pulled out a small bottle and squirted two pumps of the liquid (cologne?) into the air. Within 10 seconds Mrs. Dame began coughing and sneezing; obviously having an allergic reaction.

"Oh no, Mrs. Dame!" Jade lamented, "not another one of your attacks!" Bridgette could detect the barest of hints of a smile on the blond's face. "We'll have to go home if you don't have your medicine on hand." The teacher could only wheeze and glare. After a count of ten she made and rolling motion with her hand towards the door and Bridgette took off running to Françoise Dupont High School as fast as her legs could carry her. Her friends all called their families to make sure everyone was safe.

.

The blond, however, had his own family member who may be at Françoise Dupont High School; that very much depended on if his escape plan had worked that morning. He made his way home while trying to call Adrien, but there was no answer. Upon entering the gate he was informed of his brother's attempted escape this morning and that he should join him in his room to await the reopening of his school. But Adrien was gone when he opened the bedroom door. Sneaking out once was expected, as was getting caught, but a second time? Successfully? Unthinkable. Félix would almost be proud of his brother-if it weren't for the fact that he was sneaking to the exact spot that was currently ground zero for an attack.

After a moment of panic Felix calmed himself and headed to his own room. _Worst case scenario Adrien gets mildly hurt and is refused the few freedoms he has now; best case scenario he gets home before Father realizes he is gone._ Felix refused to believe anything else. Adrien had to be okay; but why was his room such a mess?

.

Anthony Dupain Cheng had been at Françoise Dupont High School when the attack started. While his curiosity for this villain was burning holes in his stomach, he first raced his sister home to ensure her safety. Then, he spent the next several minutes trying to figure out the best way to sneak out of his bedroom without his parents knowing. They were usually willing to let him go out if he let them know where he was planning on being, but going to take photos of a super strong villain that was tearing up Paris wouldn't qualify in the "stay safe" rules that his parents had set forth. When Sabine went to check on Marinette after they thought she had called her Anthony saw his chance. He dashed out the door heading for the Montparnasse tower. Along the way he found the most unusual sight.

A young guy in a black leather suit was tight rope walking between buildings on some sort of pole. As he was taking a shutter shot, another figure crashed into the guy from a rope of some sort and they fell in an entangled mess. Tied together they swung back and forth. He took a few candids of this and one more when they stopped swinging and righted themselves. As the girl dropped he set his shutter again so that later he could get a better look at her rope and was rewarded with seeing her drop the weighted end on her new partner's head, he said his name was Chat Noir. A moment later they were gone. Anthony had to shake off his confusion over what he just saw before setting off again in the same direction the duo had disappeared to.

When he made it to the arena the fight was over and he just got to watch the red clad girl vault the stadium. Seeing a boy he recognized from his sister's previous class he decided to stick around and see him and the other girl home. They must be shaken up. He was more than surprised, and a little jealous, to find that the girl, Alya, had some awesome footage of the fight.

.

Finding the school empty Bridgette made her way to her aunt's patisserie. There Sabine told her Marinette was already upstairs and asked if Bridgette could grab her for dinner. She could hear on the news as she passed through the living room that the superfight was already over.

"**Thanks to this amateur footage, the Parisians now know the identities of their heroes."**

"Marinette? Your mom has dinner ready!"

"Bri! Are you okay?" Marinette practically fell out of her trapdoor to wrap her arms around her cousin (attempting to distract her from the bugmouse that had been floating near her face a moment before). Bridgette nodded and laughed holding her baby cousin close.

They went downstairs to eat before returning to each of their schools. Bridgette had further to go, so she left just before Marinette finished the dishes. However, as she crossed the park a butterfly approached her. She thought herself lucky to be graced by such a delicate little being. Bridgette felt a sharp pain for a moment and then everything went dark.

.

Anthony had been returning home and thought to take a shot of his cousin's sweet smile as she held out her hand for a butterfly. He nearly dropped his camera as her deep blue eyes turned yellow and that sweet smile turned to stoney surprise.

.

Felix knocked softly before he poked his head into Adrien's room. Before he even noticed his brother he noticed the smell. His nose involuntarily crinkled as he spied the two trays on the coffee table, one of treats the other of cheeses.

"Don't eat your stress," he said lightly as he fully entered the room. Adrien faced him and gave a curt nod, looking away. Felix knew he was waiting for Father's reprimand for that morning. "You should have applied to multiple private schools, like I did. He'd fight less if it weren't public school."

Locking eyes Adrien stated, "I don't want Father to blame you for my actions, so I didn't want to use your methods. Besides, public school suits my plans better than private school." This last part was said like an inside joke; which it could be. Felix was the only one who knew Adrien planned to ditch fashion and business as soon as possible to pursue a career in physics and eventually teach said subject. Felix only smiled and inclined his head as he left, quietly closing the door behind him. (Not realizing that Adrien planned to leave immediately for the afternoon classes at Françoise Dupont High School.)

When he arrived at school that afternoon only about 90% of the staff, faculty, and students were there. Jade quickly filled him in on what had been on the news during his commute to school. Apparently Damen was one of the new statues in Paris.

.

Anthony stayed with Bridgette for a while. He couldn't bring himself to abandon his cousin. Surely there was a way to fix this. He sat at her feet and pulled out his phone looking over the news.

"**The stone beings are scattered all over Paris and for the time being they're showing now signs of movement. Police have cordoned off the area."**

He could see the police trying to get him away from "that thing," but she was his cousin and he needed to be there for her. At the sound of the bell he got up, picked a nearby flower to place in Bridgette's stone hand, and headed across the road to the school.

.

Marinette didn't see her brother as she entered the school. Her mind was racing, trying to find a solution to the stone beings. She couldn't let Ivan get emotional and she needed to find a new Ladybug. Alya seemed like a good pick, she knew how to stand up for herself and others and seemed absolutely fearless. Now, how to get the Miraculous to her without giving up Ladybug's previous identity? Alya was going on about her new "Ladyblog" which would have been super cool if Marinette didn't know what a dorkasaurus Ladybug really was. But Alya was adamant, she called Marinette out on her fear and went on to say that Ladybug was a true superhero.

"I believe in her!" Alya declared, "Even if she's still learning."

"Yeah, the stone beings were a big mess up," Marinette agreed.

"Nah, she can't help not knowing what a villain is going to do. I meant how she uses that yoyo. Check out these awesome pics some guy got! He sent them to me so I could post them!" The three photos showed Chat Noir walking across his staff, a red blur crashing into him, and Chat getting hit on the head with the yoyo.

"What!" Marinette couldn't keep herself from groaning. People thought _she_ could save Paris?

"I know right! They're so human! It's nice knowing anyone can be a hero. You should have seen some of the other photos Anthony had, they were actually tied together hanging upside down! Can you believe it!" she laughed.

"No, I really can't" she deadpanned. "Wait, did you say Anthony?"

"Yeah, I just met him briefly, but apparently he had the same idea as me."

"Hmmm."

The girls came up to a crowd around Ivan, they were talking about him being a monster.

_This can't end well._ Marinette thought.

.

The second time Stoneheart appeared Anthony was ready. His camera was charged, he had a new SD card in, and he knew where the villain would start from-Marinette's class. Not ideal, but she's a smart girl and would know how to hide well. Needless to say he was surprised when he saw her running through the streets following that Alya girl carrying a bag that wasn't hers. Anthony shot Chat Noir saving Alya for the second time, but was forced to duck as a car came at him too. He was pinned down and lost sight of the chaos, panicking when he heard a girl scream for help, thinking it was Marinette. His vision danced with pink sparks as he pushed the car with all his might getting it far enough from the wall to squeeze out. He ran to Alya as Ladybug freed her.

"You can't stay here. It's too dangerous," Ladybug said as she kicked up Chat's staff with her yoyo. She made to start running but Anthony hadn't found Marinette yet.

"Wait!" She turned surprised to see him but still moving towards her partner and the fight. "My sister, she was in the street somewhere!"

Ladybug pointed to the roofs and then took off running. Anthony looked to Alya.

"Looking for a shot?" He asked.

"Beat you there!"

They didn't make it in time, but Alya learned that Anthony was Marinette's brother and decided that awesomeness must run in the family.

.

When the Miraculous Cure set everything right Bridgette found herself surrounded by glowing ladybugs and back at the park. She felt very disoriented and was vaguely aware of having experienced pain, like getting a cramp, but felt fine now. She look around wondering where the cute butterfly went, shrugged, and made her way back to her aunt's patisserie, deciding she needed a snack to take back to school. Upon reaching the living room she realized it was much later than she had thought-she had missed her classes! Aunt Sabine explained to her what had happened and when Anthony eventually got home he verified that she was one of the stone beings. This news sent a violent shiver through her. How violating!

**Second Day of School**

The next day Felix sat in the car with Adrien as his father did the unthinkable-he allowed Adrien to go to school. _This is going to be a good year._

_._

Bridgette had many questions when she arrived at school. Jade did her best to keep up, but ultimately failed. Superheroes were a totally new concept to everyone there. Eventually the teachers calmed the students enough to start classes, but Bridgette couldn't focus. Her mind was going so many directions; seeing the photos of her transformation (very disturbing), worrying over her cousin being in class with the one who was originally transformed, phrasing and rephrasing how she was going to ask her Uncle Tom if she could work at the patisserie part time, and her eyes kept straying to a certain blond she had yet to be introduced to. All this while trying to make sense of the squiggles projected on the board that passed as words here. She may be able to speak four languages, but her previous tutors weren't very thorough.

As they were dismissed for lunch and she made her way to the exit she proved that she was just as clumsy as her cousin and fell down the main stairway, taking out two people on the way down. They were each thrown to the side (lucky them) while Bridgette tumbled and turned her way to the bottom. She braced for the harsh impact that was coming for the side of her head and right shoulder but instead hit a firm, warm wall while still slightly upright, only realizing it was a person she hit when an arm wrapped around her middle and its opposite's hand grabbed her left arm correcting her balance. She gasped and looked up into pine eyes that were scowling down at her. She could swear he heard her heart. With a nod of his head he left, she looked forward to seeing him the rest of the day.

.

"Hey, Felix! Wait up!"

"And why would I wait for you, James?" was the cold reply.

"Dude, you were literally several feet away from the new girl. Why not just let her fall?" James was truly confused. This was Felix. Felix who only spoke to teachers or to correct his peers. Felix who would rather read in the library than get ice cream with could-be friends. Though, it was also Felix who knew and kept the allergens of each of the teachers in case one of them was being an ass, like when Mr. Litton made an accusatory remark towards James. James never forgot that day, he was being told that no one expected him to amount to anything and was being blamed for a malicious popup that Mr Litton couldn't get rid of. James couldn't get in a word to defend himself. He didn't see, but was told that Felix pulled a scarf covered in cat hair from his bag and flung it around as much as possible while putting it on. He did notice, however, when Felix asked if a cat had Mr. Litton's tongue as he started wheezing and coughing.

Yeah, maybe Felix was a sociopath, but he seemed to be a decent one.

Meanwhile Felix didn't know what to make of James's statement. Shouldn't he be glad he helped the girl? She could have been concussed or had a broken nose had he not intervened. He ended up simply leaving and not gracing James with an answer.

.

Anthony went through the second day of school like any other; took candids of his new classmates, discovered that two of them had siblings in Marinette's class, cataloged his homework for the first term, and started or updated a profile for each of his teachers and classmates. He liked keeping his work organized so if anyone decided they didn't want him to take their picture he had all of their pieces together, or at least could cross reference it.

As the school day ended and he braved the rain he met his cousin at the patisserie's awning. Bridgette had a small smile on her face, a hopeful one. He met it with a goofy grin of his own.

"Where's Mari?" she asked.

He shrugged and leaned against the wall by the doors to watch the school's front door across the road while trying to not get completely soaked. Bridgette joined him. From here they spotted Marinette holding her hand in the rain. Anthony was just about to wave and give her a shout when another student left the doors. Even across the street the pair could see the tension between these two. This must be Chloé's friend. The newcomer seemed to say something and offer Marinette his umbrella. She took it just as the sky lit up, causing Bridgette to jump beside him.

"Marinette!" Anthony yelled as the umbrella closed upon his sister, but Bridgette kept him from running to her aid. He watched as the two laughed at her bad luck and she waved goodbye with a smile on her face. Apparently this friend of Chloé's wasn't as bad as first impressions dictated. But Anthony would keep an eye on him anyway.

As Marinette joined them Bridgette looped their arms.

"So who was thaaaat?" she asked in a singsong voice.

"No one! I mean obviously he's someone! But no one important. I mean not important to me! I mean…" she took a deep breath, "He's new, his name is Adrien, and I think he's nice." A smile brightened her face after she got through the statement, and the three made their way into the bakery as Marinette closed Adrien's umbrella.

_(A/N this is my first attempt at Fanfiction, and the first thing I've ever actually put out there for **people** to see, so please give your honest opinion. And if this idea is a total flop let me know that too-I have a few chapters ready, but I'm still figuring out how to navigate this side of the site. _

_Thanks!)_


	2. Bubbler

_(I know Zag doesn't believe in a timeline, so I'm vaguely following the Netflix episode order. A few are changing to meet my own needs, and later [season 3] some will _have_ to change because there are some pretty big issues in order of release, but for the most part it's Netflix order._

_Also! On that note, in reference to Backwarder, I'm going to make all akumitizations of heroes happen **before** they are given a Miraculous._

_Thanks! I hope you enjoy!)_

**The Bubbler**

Marinette was being the weird little sister that Anthony always knew her to be. This morning, everything was "happy birthday." She came down the stairs practically singing it and corrected herself as the two left, but she was being totally bonkers. As they made their way to school Anthony was trying to guess what was in the wrapped gift she was trying to hide from him and whose birthday it might be.

.

Stashing away the shirt that Father must never see, Felix made his way to breakfast. He couldn't wait to give the shirt to Adrien, but first he was going to collect a favor from Jade and have her wrap it for him. He knew if he tried it would be atrocious, and if he asked for Nathalie's help she would inform Father of the gift. So, Jade would pay for one allergic reaction by wrapping Adrien's new shirt. It sported a speech bubble stating that "seven days without a pun makes one weak." Adrien would love it.

At breakfast he wished Adrien happy birthday and they spoke quietly about what Father may have gotten him. (None of the guesses were especially flattering and were mainly meant to poke fun at their father.) When Nathalie confirmed that Adrien would not receive a party, Felix wanted to give him his shirt right there just to see him smile again before school, but he bided his time and wished Adrien a good day as the Gorilla dropped him off at his school and continued on to Felix's.

.

Bridgette entered school that morning with two steaming cups, one full of tea the other of coffee. She knew the way to a man's heart was through his stomach and had every intention of entering Felix's heart. She heard the rumors that floated around school and saw firsthand that he was reserved to say the least, but she could win him over. She had to. She'd never been in love before, but she was sure that's what this was. The teen began fantasizing about the business that they would own together and the family they would build when the object of her affections came around the corner of the locker room at the same time as her and upset the cups she was holding. Immediately she jumped backwards, which splashed the drink even more, and then tripped and landed on her bottom, effectively coating her hands in the burning liquids. She bit her lip to keep from crying out and the only noise she made could be accounted to her fall.

.

"Ugh! No, no, no!" Felix waved around a cloth he had been holding as he rounded the corner. "It's ruined! You absolute klutz! Do you know what you di-" Seeing her tears cut him off. He didn't usually care if he offended anyone and he had every right to be angry, holding Adrien's ruined birthday present, but something was different about her face. It wasn't his words that hurt her… Looking down he saw her hands and wrists, and the red blisters already forming on them. He went into high alert big brother mode. Dropping the previously precious shirt he took the drinks and dropped them in the waste then grabbed the girl just above her elbow and steered her to the nurse. Every now and then she would let out a hiccup, but he didn't make a sound. This was his fault and instead of apologizing immediately he was berating her a ruined gift. How rude! But now was not the time to make amends; she'd likely start crying if he tried. He was impressed at the control she kept over herself as he guided them into the nurse's office and had her sit while explaining the situation to the cooing nurse. She gingerly lifted each of the girl's hands and instructed him to return to class. He gave the nurse a curt nod, but before leaving he reached out to the girl's arm but didn't touch her. When he caught her eye he simply whispered "I'm sorry," then took his leave.

As he made his way to class he found both their bags and the pun shirt exactly where they had been dropped, though all the liquid had been cleared; or had it all landed on her? Grabbing the bags and shirt he felt defeated as he walked into Mrs. Dame's class.

.

When lunch time rolled around it didn't take Anthony too long to answer his questions as he watched his sister try, and fail, to give the box to the new Agreste boy from the school's front doors. Was it awful of him to take pictures and laugh at his sister's expense? Of course not, that's what family is for. Besides, he wasn't cruel enough for these photos to leave the house, just to taunt her with. Anthony was rather impressed at how well Adrien handled the unwelcome (and incoherent) attention, as well as how supportive Alya was in the hopeless situation. Anthony was just considering giving Chloe a piece of his mind when Jalil asked if they were still planning on his place for lunch. His friend didn't get a lot of hang out time because of his internship at the Louvre with his dad, so Anthony tried to make sure he felt included anytime he was free. Anthony went off with his friend to lunch and left Marinette to fend for herself.

.

Bridgette had entered class late, but her hands would be fine. The burns were bad enough that they did need immediate attention, but not so bad that the nurse couldn't handle them. Everyone was asking her what happened as they saw the bandages on her hands, but she refused to elaborate past "I'm clumsy, what do you expect?" Although she was aware most of her classmates knew she had fallen quick and hard for Felix, she didn't want to own up to the shame that this was from one of her plots to win his heart. She was just glad he wasn't burned as well.

Thinking of him her eyes found him again. Felix had been rather quiet today. No, he's always quiet. Today he was distracted. _Perhaps it had something to do with the cloth?_ she thought. Bridgette couldn't quite remember what the cloth was or what he had said, but she knew he was upset about it when she ran into him. No way to know but to ask!

.

Felix wanted today to be over. As if his father hadn't ruined the day enough already by refusing Adrien his party, now the only gift he had was ruined. But Felix felt awful for being angry about the dumb shirt because the girl was actually hurt and a shirt is just an object. Oh, but he wanted to be angry! He just needed a good target. Maybe he and Adrien could have a free fencing match later to relieve his anger and Adrien's disappointment. Lost in his brooding he didn't notice lunch had let out and everyone was packing up until the girl came up to his desk.

"Hello, Felix," she said with a sweet smile. _Wasn't she angry with him?_

"Hello…" _Crap! What's her name?_ Felix cleared his throat and tilted his head to indicate her hands. "I'm sorry about that. I should have looked before rounding the corner." Her eyebrows shot up. Apparently she wasn't expecting an apology. He started packing his things to hide his confusion.

"Oh no. I was daydreaming. If either of us are in the wrong it's me, though I would rather blame the corner itself." Her tone and demeanor were so bright it was hard to believe she was in tears with pain only a short time ago. Hell, she was even making a joke about it when she could have gone to the hospital from the burns!

"Considering I was looking for someone, you would think I would have seen you right in front of me." Her eyes got extremely round and her jaw grew slightly slack.

"You were looking for me?" Felix couldn't help the small chuckle and smirk at her reaction. He knew she liked him, she had stated so several times, and would remind him at the most unexpected times. While she seemed very nice, though a bit stalkerish and he could never remember her name, he enjoyed not having anyone close to him. Solitude was peaceful and could not be taken away from him. This was a lesson he hoped Adrien wouldn't learn. Their parents could be unknowingly cruel.

"Jade, actually." The expression clouded over. "Though, I suppose you two are often together. I was going to call in a favor." He left the classroom at a swift pace but she hurried along beside him.

"What favor?"

"It isn't important now."

"But what was it?" Letting out a long sigh Felix decided he could sate her curiosity, he owed her something.

"I'm a crap giftwrapper and was going to have her wrap my brother's present." Reaching the courtyard he stopped and pivoted to face her and she stumbled forward two steps before backtracking to him. Mentally Felix berated himself for being amused by her lack of coordination, as she had just been injured.

"It was a shirt!" she gasped at him, loud enough for the entire courtyard to hear. "Ohmygosh!Iamsosorry!" She looked simply horrified. Felix tried to wave it off and continue to his waiting bodyguard, but she looped their arms and halted him with the inside of her elbow. It would have been easy enough to get away from her, but he didn't want to disturb her bandaged hand. "What did it look like." She demanded, a fierce determination in her eye. For a moment Felix couldn't help but think he was glad this girl liked him, because if she hated him she would make him suffer.

"It was silly." He took another step towards the door with her still on his arm.

"It was a gift." Step.

"And now it's not." Step. Step.

"I can replace it." Stop. He looked down at her. "My cousin makes her own clothes and has several odds and ends she keeps around in case someone wants to see her work before putting in an order. She might have something his size that you want. Or I could help her embroider a piece quickly. We could have it made by the end of the day." She stared into his eyes owlishly, hardly blinking.

"My father runs a fashion empire." She blushed and nodded. "Don't promise something can be made in a day if you're not the one making it. Though I would like to see what your cousin can do."

A smile split her face and she dropped Felix's arm to skip forward, waving him on with her bandages.

.

Anthony and Jalil were inhaling their lunch in his parent's apartment above the patisserie. Sabine made sure to scold them every time they thought it was a good idea to toss bits of food into each other's mouths. (She would never admit that it was actually amusing to watch.) The boys were far from surprised to see Marinette practically float in and start doodling hearts in her food. She was totally oblivious to the two boys. It was much more surprising when Bridgette burst through the doors with bandages on her hands and a blond guy at her heels.

"Bridgette! Are you alright?" Anthony, Marinette, and Sabine all made their way to her, but she just pointed at Mari, said something indecipherable and ran up to the attic bedroom. Marinette followed.

.

"Marinette, Felix. Felix, Marinette." Bridgette breathed as she glared at the trapdoor that led to Marinette's bedroom.

"Pleasure," she ground out wondering why her cousin was trying to take a guy into her bedroom. Surely she had a reason, she just needed to slow down long enough to explain herself.

"Your cousin has quite the one-track mind when she makes a decision," the blond stage whispered to Marinette.

"You should have seen her digitize my parents' records when she first started working here. I never thought she'd get it all transferred, but she persevered."

The blond, Felix (_Why does that name sound familiar? Like I should be hyperventilating?)_, straitened and gave a hum in reply.

"I can't open it," Bridgette stated, obviously waiting for one of them to do so for her.

"Explanation first," was Marinette's simple reply. At this Bridgette glanced between her cousin, her crush, and the cursed trap door, then realized that what she was doing was actually rather invasive.

"I'm sorry Marinette! I just got so caught up- Anyway, Felix may buy a piece from you. Or make a commission. But he wanted to see your wares first."

Marinette blushed at the thought of a new customer. Sure, she'd had commissions before, but it was usually just mending something or helping a family friend.

Turning to Felix she asked what he was looking for and he handed her a freshly stained shirt with a pun. She took it up to her room, leaving the other two behind, and mulled over what she would want to show him. She had several embroidered tees that could fit the bill. Her father loved puns so she had a few of those on hand, but noting the right size; this shirt was likely for a guy about her age. She grabbed three shirts to show her potential customer, two would fit in place of the stained shirt and one would need remade. On a whim she grabbed a new sketch she had just finished as well.

"See if any of these are what you want." She handed the clothes to Felix as she came level with him and Bridgette (whose face was ladybug red) and headed back to the kitchen to finish her lunch. She could hear them speaking as she finished. She was mumbling to herself about wanting to know if Adrien got his gift yet when Sabine asked what she said.

"Oh! I can't wait to get back to school this afternoon," she explained, not wanting to own up to her day dreams. Anthony and his friends had just opened the door to go to the park when a purple bubble floated in and encased her mother.

"Mom! Mom!" she cried as she watched her float away. Another figure in a bubble joined her mother. "Dad? Dad!" Marinette was nearing panic as her brother and cousin joined her at the window and her parents floated away.

"Hawkmoth must have released another Akuma," a tiny voice said from inside her collar. Tikki had to stay hidden, but Marinette's companions were too shook to realize they didn't know who said the phrase.

"All the adults…" Jalil whispered, breathless behind them. Hearing the boy's fear, Marinette switched to Ladybug mode.

.

To say it was surprising when the smallest person in the room started commanding it would be an understatement. Felix was stunned when Marinette wheeled around with steel in her eyes. It would seem the young designer had a plan.

"Jalil; if all the adults have been taken there are going to be little kids without care all over the city. Try to consolidate them to one space so they can be supervised. Bridgette; you'll take care of them as they come in, I know you can't necessarily handle them with those bandages, but you'll be a calming presence. Anthony; anything fishy or extreme you should document for when the crisis is over and people wonder what happened." Her eye's found Felix and she frowned. "Felix, could you help gather other teens to help out?"

"No." Everyone in the room was visibly shocked by his refusal. "My brother is out there, I need to find him," he explained in a cold tone. "He's already having a bad day, and I promised this year would be different. I need to find him." Felix refused to acknowledge Bridgette's bowed head or to analyze why her reaction may bother him.

Marinette nodded, "Can you direct people you come across _as_ you look for him?"

Smiling Felix inclined his head, "Of course." Thinking for a moment Felix realized how he could help best. "The Place des Vosges park. That's where Adrien will likely be, so if you consolidate the children there I will be able to help." Bridgette beamed, but Marinette lost all color in her face.

"Adrien is your brother. You're Felix _Agreste_." She scowled at her cousin but took a deep breath. Her look said they would speak on this subject later. Felix added a little ice to his glare; he hated his last name sometimes.

.

"Where will you be half-pint?" Anthony asked his sister as the six teens left the apartment on a mission.

"Running Alya control. She is beyond reckless when it comes to these battles."

Grabbing Marinette's arm and forcing her to make eye contact he said two very simple words: "Be careful." She rolled her eyes and swatted him away, taking off towards where a collection of bubble fireworks could be seen in the sky. He didn't see the splash of pink when she turned the corner. The "Bubbler" was projecting himself on giant bubbles and was saying that everyone was to be having "Fun, fun, fun, fun!" but Anthony wasn't feeling it. Kneeling down to some kids that had been coming into the bakery Anthony assured them. "Don't worry. Your parents will come back. Ladybug and Chat Noir will see to it." He pointed out where they should head and then continued walking the streets.

Anthony easily caught up with Jalil and started snapping photos. He shot photos as he helped toddlers and preschoolers in the streets, a few meddlesome kids ransacking a candy store, some kids stuck on a ferris wheel, and even heard some babies crying that were abandoned in their apartments. He felt bad breaking and entering, but they needed taken care of and no one else was around.

.

"Wow, that was a birthday lunchbreak to remember. Yay," Adrien told Plagg sarcastically as he finished his food and made his way to the door. He couldn't believe Felix hadn't even come home. In the foyer he called out for the everpresent Nathalie or his father. Neither answered. Shrugging he headed for the door, only to be greeted by his classmates cheering happy birthday. _Did Felix and Nino do this?_ He didn't see either of them-until the clown-faced akuma victim wished him a happy birthday too. The voice was…"Nino?" Running back inside after Nino finished his spiel, Adrien tried to figure out what to do.

He'd never been to a party before, and this might be his only chance.

But Chat Noir had to stop any Akuma attack.

But what harm had Nino really caused? It was just a party.

Plagg seemed to like the idea of waiting to transform too.

.

Ladybug raced to the sound of music and fireworks. She came up over the last building to see-_Agreste Manor!_ This could not be good. Scoping out what was going on she realized the Akuma was djing a party, but the party guests didn't want to be there. Except for Chloe who was-_DANCING WITH ADRIEN! _Seeing Chloe pucker at him Marinette exclaimed to herself "There's no way this is happening!" and called her Lucky Charm. Just what she needed: An upbeat record.

"Dude! Who just hijacked my mix?!"

"Yours truly." Ladybug replied. She bugged out to keep from transforming in front of anyone and after making her case to Tikki pulled out her phone. She dialed Bridgette.

"Are you alright?" was the immediate response. Did it even ring? She made her way over to a cookie table as she quietly asked her cousin if she could speak with Felix.

"Yes?" he asked after a pause.

"I have good news and bad news," she slipped two cookies into her purse, "and I want you to promise you'll let me finish and not freak out when I tell you."

"You obviously don't know me very well." How did he always sound so detached and annoyed?

"The Akuma is at Agreste Manor." There was a stifled breath on his end, but he waited for her to continue. "The victim is a friend of Adrien's and is throwing him a party. I don't think Adrien is in any-AHH! OH! Umm...hi," Marinette squeaked out as she found the Bubbler standing right at her shoulder.

"Are you enjoying the party, Marinette?"

"Oh, I, uh, I just got here."

"Well come on in! This party's gonna be the bomb!" He grinned at her and led her into the courtyard by her shoulder. "And any presents can go on that table," he said with a wink.

That killed all her nervousness as she entered the throng of people and left the villain behind. Smacking her forehead she spoke to herself "I already sent it in! But I forgot to sign it!" She lifted the phone back to her ear, "So, I um, have to go."

"Noted," was the cold reply. "Stay safe," was the unexpected addition.

"Where have you been, girl? I was so scared something had happened to you!"

"Me too!" Marinette replied as she hugged Alya. This was probably Alya's favorite place to be. Captive by an Akuma assuring Marinette that the heroes would save the day.

.

Felix was reaching his limit. He liked solitude. Not searching for an undetermined number of people that he didn't know. Not pretending to socialize with a girl that would only be hurt by him. Not having small children look to him to tell them everything would be okay. He had a shell, a wall, and he liked it intact. But here he was, toting two buck toothed little girls to Place des Vosges park. Why did they have to be twins? And say things in unison? Doesn't that only happen on TV? And Bridgette! Bridgette! She wouldn't stop smiling, or hinting that this was a date. If this was her idea of a date Felix was afraid to find out what her idea of a fight would be. Every new child didn't trust him (which was objectively good he knew) and after convincing them he was trying to help there would be a constant stream of questions because what child isn't curious. But right now he was getting a double dose and he questioned his sanity when his would-be stalker's smile gave him relief.

.

The wave of ladybugs brought all the adults back to where they were taken from, however the children stayed in Place des Vosges park. Nadia Chamack covered the events, and some pictures by Anthony Dupain-Cheng were featured. Adrien hadn't met Marinette's brother yet, but his photos appeared nearly professional and he knew that several of the stills on the Ladyblog were his. Watching the news Adrien smiled every time he caught his brother in the background. Felix looked miserable-it was hysterical. His father had tried to reach him, but apparently Felix's phone was dead, or he was ignoring them. Either way, Felix was benefiting from interacting with people. Adrien just wished he were out there too, instead of eating dinner alone...again.

He was mildly surprised when Nathalie walked in. Even more surprised when she handed him a wrapped present. "A birthday present, from your father." Adrien says something, he hopes it's a "thank you", but he is too distracted to really know what came out of his mouth. _A birthday present! From Father!_ He corrected himself when the initial shock wore off.

Later Felix made his way home with a present in tow. He said to open it in private, odd. Felix also asked if any presents had arrived from classmates. He seemed surprised when Adrien said no, but quickly dismissed it.

When Adrien finally made it to his room that night he opened his second present: a tee shirt. It was hazmat green and had a black periodic table embroidered on it. Under the table, boxy letters were stitched on in the words "I wear this periodically." It was the perfect mix of his love of science and puns. Inside the collar in pink embroidery it said "A MDC Creation" in a swirly script.

The next day he proudly wore his scarf, it was from his father after all, and he sneakily wore his new tee. If the Gorilla wondered why his jacket was fastened on such a nice day, he stuck to his usual silence and let it slide.

Alya seemed particularly encouraging of the new style of the day.


	3. Mr Pigeon

_(A/N I've seen the idea of a language gap for Bridgette a few times before, such as in _Words. Character. Plot_'s "Stand in Heroes." I decided to incorporate it as a way to get Bridgette and Felix in the same space more often._

_Also, I can be an idiot at times...I published the last two chapters and **totally** forgot that I hadn't named the park outside Marinette's outside my filler 'ELEPHANT.' So if you caught that, sorry. It has been fixed._

_This chapter is pretty short, as is the next one. For the time being I'm really close to canon, so it doesn't take much to point out the parts that make if an AU, later it'll get a bit more in depth..._

_I own nothing!_

_Enjoy!)_

**Mr. Pigeon**

Anthony was pacing. He couldn't help it. He would sit down, spout out a single nonsensical sentence, then resume his pacing. Truly, he was acting like his sister. The thought made him snort.

"Dude, chill. You're acting like you're the one in a time crunch." Anthony was with Jalil observing their sisters' class. It had just been announced that the winning entry of an Agreste competition would be modeled in an upcoming photo shoot.

"She has to win!" Anthony lamented.

"I'm all for the supportive older brother thing, but seriously, chill out."

"If she wins and her hat is modeled do you know where she will be?" A blank stare was Jalil's only response. "Backstage! With the models, the seamsters, and the _photographers!"_

"Wait," cut in Jalil, "you want your sister to win so that _you_ can meet your idols?"

"Of course," he smiled. Jalil just chuckled and rolled his eyes. He went back to reading his documentary. Anthony didn't bother adding that Marinette had been acting weird and he thought this could be a major confidence boost. (It might even help get her closer to Adrien.)

Anthony looked back to see Adrien talking to his sister. Hoping to eavesdrop and gather ammunition to use against her later, he made his way closer, ending up sitting on the steps above them.

'Designs that go upwards' was too easy; though good for a cheap shot if needed.

.

It wasn't fair that Françoise Dupont High School had a fashion contest and her school didn't. Bridgette wanted to complain, but she took advantage of Jade and Samson's bent ears when she droned about Felix. She didn't want them to decide she was incredibly annoying, they were still getting to know her and scaring them off would be awfully disappointing. She knew Marinette would win; her cousin was super talented. Having the outlet would have been nice though. Her studies weren't getting any easier, and while she loved helping at the patisserie her mother had said she needed to improve her grades or her part time job was toast. Google translate was a hero, but not foolproof and very time consuming. It was a good thing her hands had healed relatively quickly, typing was awful while she wore those bandages. She needed to learn to read French, but she wasn't willing to admit to anyone that she couldn't. Her own mother assumed she was taught to read as well as speak when she had been tutored as a child.

Qianru had been taught by tutors so she assumed the same should be done for her daughter. Education was important, but quality time was as well. She would much rather take her daughter out for ice cream and gossip than practice their letters.

It wasn't that Bridgette wanted to be in the contest really, she had a creative mind but not a designing talent, she just wanted a break. But her break between classes was over and her next teacher was walking in.

.

Felix was more than relieved when the teacher finally walked in. He could focus on something other than his discussion with the headmaster that morning. There was a student having issues passing their classes and it would be 'beneficial' for him to venture into more 'socially interactive' extracurriculars. Apparently fencing, language, violin, and martial arts are not social enough. He could only guess which idiot classmate of his was failing and needed tutored.

.

A portfolio! That's what Marinette needs, a portfolio! It was lunch time, and maybe sneaking into her room was not the best thing to do, but she had some amazing designs that just needed documented and organized. He silently climbed to her trap door and nearly cursed as he saw her working on her hat. He'd have to wait until she left.

"What are you looking for?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

"A feather! I forgot to pick up a pigeon feather for the hat! It _has_ to have a feather." Who was she talking to? Quickly thinking as he heard her coming to the hatch, Anthony made like he was going to knock on her door. "Ahhh!" she jumped and fell when he surprised her. "Ugh! Anthony! What do you want? I'm in a hurry."

"Jalil's shift got moved, so I wanted to know if you were up for UMS III tonight, after your contest." Mental high five on the quick thinking.

"Oh, um, ask me later." And she practically flew down the stairs...leaving her room and creations completely unguarded.

Anthony made his way around the familiar room. Her working supplies were on her desk in front of her computer, along with a pack of bandaids. Chuckling to himself he made his way to the latest design on her manikin. A large pink hat to compliment a pink and orange sundress. Behind her green folding screen was a short legged jumper that matched the dress's color theme, with a denim blue tee for underneath. Anthony continued his way around the room finding piece after piece, photographing them, and then putting them back exactly as he found them. He felt he was nearly done when he saw something he knew he shouldn't have: A diary.

Ten minutes later Anthony was still sitting on Marinette's chaise debating on whether he should read it or not. On one hand, it was a major violation of privacy and, while they bickered like any siblings would, they had a relationship built on trust-the whole family did. On the other hand, she had been acting so odd, what if something was actually wrong? She seemed to be handling Chloe's bullying much better this year with Alya by her side, so what could it be?

Later still, just as Anthony put down the diary and made his way to the hatch Marinette came _down_ from her loft saying over her shoulder "There's no time to lose, I have less than an hour!" She turned and saw Anthony at the entrance to her room. "Eep!" was all she got out while she looked like a deer in the headlights.

_Now or never._

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" She looked to her desk, obviously wanting to finish her hat. "I saw your diary," her face contorted and turned red, but before she could speak he continued, "I considered reading it, because I know something is up with you, but I'd rather you trust me with it."

Turning to leave he felt her wrap her arms around him, letting out a soft "thanks," before nearly pushing him down the stairs so she could finish her project.

.

Felix would rather be fencing, but _no! _he had to attend the contest at his brother's school because...well he didn't even know why, probably just so his father could torture him by being within a four mile radius of a fashion contest. Gabriel was despicable like that. Felix would only admit that it was nice to see Adrien being around people; school was good for him. Felix however, stayed in a corner to avoid unnecessary interaction.

He was surprised to see Bridgette talking to a girl in orange plaid beside an empty stool. Figuring it was Marinette's design they were waiting for, Felix decided he would root for her since she had helped him in a pinch on Adrien's birthday and seemed to actually be talented. He nearly commissioned the Chat Noir polo design she had showed him for himself. Felix was beginning to believe he was mistaken when she ran in, tripping as she went, with a covered hat box.

Of course Chloe copied her design. She was a rat, but she knew talent and quality when she saw it. Marinette took the situation in stride and was very professional when addressing Father. Impressive. Bridgette was beaming beside her, bouncing on the balls of her feet. When Adrien put on the hat however, Felix decided Father only chose it because Adrien was allergic to feathers. He smirked when he saw a large boy his age had a camera pointed at his brother.

.

As Anthony snapped another photo, this one of Marinette, Bridgette, and Alya celebrating Marinette's win in the background with a miserable Adrien in the foreground, he realized what everyone had been missing for weeks now:

The strange excuses.

The increased tardiness and absences.

The strange voice.

Arriving from her balcony, when she left from the door.

The new pair of earrings she never took off that no one seemed to have given her.

Marinette was Ladybug.

His _sister_ was Ladybug.

That was the first time he ever dropped a camera.


	4. Stormy Weather

**Stormy Weather**

Anthony made triple sure he had plans today. Manon was coming over, and that girl was a terror. Cute, but a terror. Marinette had no backbone to say no, and really, Anthony didn't either if asked directly, but he had no problem making himself busy elsewhere to avoid being asked to begin with. Besides, Marinette saved the day all the time, surely the adorable terror called Manon wouldn't be too much for her.

With that in mind he made his way to the Kidz building to catch pictures of the contestants entering the building. Mireille was the obvious favorite, but poor Aurore had put so much into the contest as well. She was just eating up the attention...which was probably why she wasn't winning.

.

Bridgette loved working in the bakery. The hustle and bustle at meal times, the constant smell of fresh baked goods, the friendly demeanor of her aunt and uncle; it was all intoxicating. During the day she only worked the register and stocked supplies and shelves, but she was so happy that they trusted her to run the books. Though they did double check everything afterwards, but that was just common sense.

She was especially glad that she had a shift today. Sabine was out with Nadia and Manon needed a babysitter. She had watched Manon when the bubbler attacked, and it would be no small amount of money to get her to go upstairs just now. The girl may be small, but the chaos she caused was mighty.

As her most recent customer departed the patisserie was left empty. She came around the counter and took a notepad to tally what needed to be set out. She returned to the back, washed her hands, let Uncle Tom know what had been popular that morning, and collected a tray full of what she needed. Just as she rounded the counter to stock everything the bell chimed. Her back was to the door as she sat down the tray and when she turned she was glad she didn't have anything in her hands.

_What is he doing here? I thought he didn't like sweets!_

_._

"Bridgette." Though he shouldn't be surprised, he vaguely knew her aunt and uncle owned the shop, he was not mentally prepared to see her. Or anyone he knew, really. He had been enjoying himself and felt like a rabbit wanting to run when he realized he'd have to _interact_ with someone. Why did he have to say her name? He may have been able to pretend he didn't notice her and sneak out after going up and down an aisle.

"Hello, Felix." She fidgeted with her hands in front of her, then seemed to steel herself rolling her shoulders back and looking up with her better posture. _Oh no. Here comes the next love confession._ Was all Felix could think. But before he could stop her, she surprised him.

"Today our special savory is cheese baguette, and out special sweet is apple turnover. You're welcome to browse either the shelves, or there is a menu on the wall there. If you have any questions let me know." And with that she turned and started filling the empty spaces on the shelves. Was she being...professional? Bridgette who over exaggerates everything and claimed to love Felix after only knowing him a week. How odd. Realizing he hadn't moved since entering the patisserie Felix started to look around. He was getting something for his entire group: Adrien would want sweet; Vincent would want something heavy; Gorilla would want cream puffs; and Felix planned on getting himself a coffee.

"How long have you worked here?" The question surprised even himself, he meant to ask if they sold coffee.

"Hmm? Oh, shortly after school started. I'm still learning some of the ropes." She kept her eyes focused on what her hands were doing, but she didn't have an angry or annoyed tone. She was truly trying to stay professional. Her family owned the business, so she wasn't afraid of being fired. Her demeanor must really matter to her. Interesting. When she finally met his gaze Felix realized he'd been staring. That just wouldn't do.

"Both specials, an order of cream puffs, and a black coffee." He didn't even wait for her to reach the counter, he just needed an excuse for why he was looking at her. She nodded and left her tray so she could gather his order and ring him up. The only breaks in her professional facade was when she put a smiley face on his coffee and the softer than expected smile she offered as he turned to leave. He gave a simple nod in response and made sure she could only see his back when he let himself smile at their almost normal interaction. He and his brother were both sorely lacking social skills, but they were also both improving all the time.

However, his smile fell to a startled scowl when the front door froze shut just before he opened it.

.

Anthony was no longer glad for his excellent spot at the entrance. As soon as the dark clad girl came out with an umbrella, he knew. Hopefully Marinette could find a good excuse to leave Manon downstairs, was all he could think before literally being blown away. Yeah, Akumas sucked like that. He groaned as he stood and wobbily followed in the direction of the Akuma, camera in hand. Before long he reached the park. His dizzy spell seemed to increase as he took in the firemen circling the new ice sculpture around the merry-go-round. Raising his camera, he willed away the swaying of his vision and shot several photos. The best, in his opinion, was one of a fireman with his hand to the ice and Manon's hand against it on the other side. _...Manon?!_ Was Marinette in there too? Who would save Paris? He ran to the ice and started pounding. Alya came over with Manon by her side. She looked worried, but Marinette didn't show up. Apparently Anthony's worries, or at least some of them, were written on his face.

"Marinette went to the center part of the park when we got trapped. Ladybug told us she was safely hiding," Alya answered the unasked question. Anthony sighed in relief. "You know how scared she gets of these Akumas," she continued.

"Yeah," was all he managed to say. He didn't want to give his sister away. Holding up his camera he received a grin from Alya and took his leave.

.

He was drinking his coffee. She hadn't said a word except to answer any comment or question he might have. It was nearly unbearable being forced to be so near him and have to keep a professional face. But she told herself when she started that she wouldn't do anything to make the patisserie look bad, and if how embarrassed Jade and Marinette were of her declarations of love was any indication, she should avoid even making eye contact with Felix.

Uncle Tom insisted they join him in the kitchen by the oven even though it had lost most of its heat in the cold blast. Even the apartment's front door was covered in ice. He told them Alya had taken Marinette and Manon to the park and Anthony was at the Kids contest. Hopefully they were alright.

Bridgette couldn't help the constant glances she stole at him. He was _right there_. Finally, Uncle Tom had an idea.

"What's your favorite baked good, son?" Felix flinched at the familial term.

"I usually prefer tarts," was his polite response with his eyes downcast. It was like he was ashamed, but didn't want to lie. Preposterous, who didn't like tarts?

"Tarts it is!" Uncle Tom left his ready to bake dough by the oven and gathered the ingredients for peach tarts. Felix was reluctant but attentive as he was shown the recipe and told how and when to mix the ingredients. After catching herself staring at a flour smudge on his cheek for a little too long, Bridgette decided to busy herself too. She gathered ingredients for bavarois and set to work.

The distraction was working perfectly, until she heard it. Felix chuckling. She'd heard him let out brief snorts of laughter before, but never an actual chuckle. She looked at him wide eyed, her heart breaking for him a little more. Her surprise increased when she saw he was looking at her. He dipped his head and pointed at her forehead.

Clearing his throat he stated, "You look like Simba." She blinked once, then twice. _Simba?_

"_The Lion King_?"

"Yeah. At the beginning," he smirked.

Tom laughed heartily, "He's right! The gelatin is supposed to go in the mold, not there!" He kept laughing while Felix kept smirking. She couldn't help her smile even as she tried to wear a scowl.

"And where is that flour supposed to be?" she asked pointing at Tom's apron and Felix's cheek. "Not to mention the peach filling I saw you testing!" Tom gasped with his hand over his heart while Felix turned bright red. His embarrassment didn't last long however, and he dipped his finger into the peach filling and scooped up a big glob.

"What filling?" he held eye contact as he popped his finger in his mouth and ate the filling. It was like a challenge, and she couldn't back down.

"This filling!" She quickly dipped her own finger in and flung a glob at Felix's face, hitting his temple and hair. She abandoned all thought of Uncle Tom being angry when he started laughing and quickly clearing the items that were off limits. He left plenty of ammunition and even joined in himself as they flung food and ingredients at one another. She didn't know Felix had this side. She loved him even more as she got to see it.

.

Felix was almost disappointed when the magical ladybugs raced by. Unfortunately, they did not clean the mess that the food fight caused. Bridgette tried to shoo Felix back to the park so she could clean. He didn't want to leave her by herself though. She may have started the fight, but he goaded her on. So he cleaned as Tom baked and Bridgette went back and forth between both chores as well as checking to see if any customers snuck in and they didn't notice the bell. It was a surprisingly nice afternoon, despite the Akuma.

When Felix brought his order to the park Adrien was posing with a young girl while Marinette and her friend stood nearby. He opted to give Gorilla his cream puffs and enjoy his second coffee under a tree while he waited for Vincent to finish.


	5. Copycat

_(A/N I've pretty much been sticking to short and sweet in my chapters. I know I'm kind of sporadic with my updates, but I plan to at least update once a week. It depends on how much I write. This week I wrote two chapters so I'll update twice. I plan to stay at least five chapters ahead of what is posted though. [I just finished Chapter 11 and I can't wait for everyone to hate me...just a little.]_

_Enjoy! _

_Please Review?)_

**Copycat**

Anthony hadn't had a chance to talk to Marinette about being Ladybug yet, plus he wanted her to be the one to come to him, but he was nearly ready to go get her himself. Ladybug and Chat Noir were running late and, knowing his scatterbrained sister, she probably forgot about it.

"Stop scowling, your face will stay like that," Bridgette told him.

"I'm just wondering when LB and her cat will show up." She laughed lightly at his response and that made some of his tension ease.

"The mayor is wondering too. I can't count how many times he has checked his watch in the last two minutes." She was right, everyone was getting anxious. Luckily, Chat Noir showed up doing flips as he crossed the rooftops and leapt down to rest on the statue's base. Fortunately, when he looked back to the bakery doors he saw Marinette talking to Alya. Unfortunately, she then headed in the wrong direction. This was not going to end well.

.

This was getting ridiculous. Felix had been noticing his brother's absences becoming more and more frequent with weak excuses like needing a drink. It did not take five minutes to get a drink. Sighing, Felix excused himself and headed to the locker room to find Adrien. Instead he found Marinette at Adrien's locker.

"I'm not going to ask how you got that," she jumped, letting out a small squeal and accidentally throwing the phone, "but I would like to know why." Felix leaned down to pick up the phone as he finished speaking. Marinette did not hide her surprise or panic well, but Felix kept his composure unmoving.

"I, um, see, well, I." Looking at the notifications on the lockscreen Felix could see Adrien had two missed calls and a voicemail.

"If you tell me the truth I might just unlock it for you." She instantly found her composure in a glare.

"I don't like lies." Simple enough declaration, but would she stand by it? Letting out a sigh she continued with a defeated slump to her shoulders. "I called him earlier and left an embarrassing voicemail. I wanted to delete it before he could hear it." She wouldn't make eye contact.

"I'm assuming it has to do with your crush on him?" She winced. Opening Adrien's phone he put the voicemail on speaker for them both to listen to. As soon as voicemail Marinette started speaking Marinette burst into action trying to snatch the phone away from him. He kept her at an arm's length and listened to the voicemail seemingly end, only to continue in a distant tone.

"...expect me to say? 'Hey, Hot Stuff. It's Marinette.'"

He didn't hear anymore. Between Marinette's struggles to retrieve the phone and his own boisterous laughter there wasn't any use in trying. When the automated voice announced that the message was over he dodged the girl's most recent attack and let her hit the lockers and held the phone up. He tried to drop his smile, but it was futile.

"I will erase it," he assured her, watching her relax, "in exchange for a favor." She went rigid and gave a cutting glare.

"What favor?"

"I don't know. I like having favors in my pocket for when they're needed. Ask your cousin, she would know." He could see her calculating before she nodded, accepting that she didn't really have a choice. "By the way," he said walking towards his own locker, "I wouldn't let them see you." She barely made it to the wall behind the door as it started to open and the other fencers filed in. Felix decided he liked the Cheng girls, and needed to meet Marinette's brother to see if he was worth friendship as well. He still preferred his solitude, and would never admit out loud that he considered a select few people to be his friends, especially that the stalker like Bridgette was one of them, but those few seemed to be growing this year.

.

Adrien felt like he was forgetting something as he grabbed his bag from his locker. Plagg had eaten all of his cheese, so he'd have to restock that. There was something else, wasn't there?

Shaking off the feeling he followed Felix to the car. He needed to start coming up with better excuses to disappear with, Felix was beginning to notice. He hadn't asked or made any comment yet, but eventually he would shift into "big brother mode" and start meddling. But how could Adrien prevent it? That was one of Nature's Mysteries.

.

Anthony didn't bother knocking, he was too upset. He just barely made out the red blur that raced to hide behind Marinette's pillow. It didn't matter, he already knew. Maybe not exactly what it was, but that it made Marinette Ladybug.

"Where were you?" he ground out.

"Huh?" she jumped from her prone position on her bed to look at him. She looked miserable, but he could be sympathetic later.

"Here." He roughly handed her his camera so she could see the up close and personals of the sculpture that he got. Theo was even more miserable than Marinette was now. "This guy's dreams were crushed because Ladybug was supposed to be there! Not to mention the mayor thinks you're a flake and Alya was disappointed about missing a shot of you for the Ladyblog!" he whisper yelled at his sister. Her eyes got really wide.

"Wha- wha- what do you- do you mean?" Maybe this wasn't the best way to say he knew her secret. She looked close to tears.

"You should have been with Alya," he sighed gently. "She probably would have liked a picture with her best friend at the unveiling."

"I was…" she looked down at her hands. "Well, I was embarrassing myself."

"As usual," he smiled at her.

Sitting down he let her tell him about the voicemail she left and how she now owed Felix a favor. Anthony didn't care for Felix, though he only really knew him by reputation. They only met once, and that was during an Akuma attack, so it didn't really count.

Looking at his sister's slumped form he didn't know how she did it. She had too much on her plate and he should be supporting her. Right now a hug was all he could manage.

.

Bridgette was a little peeved that Anthony had ditched her to check on his sister. It made sense to make sure she was alright, she had just missed a pretty big event that she could've gone to with her best friend or family, but why couldn't Bridgette go with him? Sure, they were siblings and she was just their cousin, but she felt close to both of them.

Unless Anthony knew a secret she was keeping and they didn't want Bridgette to know.

Well that was ridiculous. Marinette had zero chill when it came to secrets; she was just like Uncle Tom.

However, that still left the rest of the afternoon for Bridgette to figure out how to enjoy. It was her last weekend of freedom and she wasn't going to squander it. She was already juggling school work, her part time job at the patisserie, participating in the Small World club, and her weekly spars with Aunt Sabine, but now she had to find time to meet with a tutor too. Her headmaster had assigned her one, though she didn't know who. She was willing to admit she needed one, but not necessarily the reason she did. Would they laugh when they found out she could only read Mandarin?

_No sad thoughts today. Today I get...ICE CREAM!_ She thought as she spotted Andre's ice cream.

.

Unknown to Adrien, the reason he could not find his phone was because Felix hadn't had a chance to replace it between deleting Marinette's message and Adrien taking his bag. Felix cringed when he entered the dining room and heard that Adrien had returned to the gym to find his phone. That made for a lonely afternoon. Perhaps that was a good thing though; Felix grabbed his lunch and went to his bedroom to read through the file the headmaster gave him. He knew it was coming for about a week now, but was still dreading even reading the name of who he was being forced to spend his precious little spare time with. He was not prepared to see Bridgette Cheng's name on the first page of the file.

.

Marinette's phone started ringing and Anthony answered it on video for her.

"Problem fixed?"

"Sort of. The message was heard, but not by Adrien. And it's erased now, so that's something. Where are you anyway? Bridgette text us she's getting ice cream and Anthony offered to get us some."

"I did what now?"

"No can do." Alya answered laughing. "I'm waiting for additional deats at the Louvre on the Chat Noir robbery."

"What? Somebody robbed Chat Noir?"

"No, girl! Didn't you hear? Chat Noir came in and stole the Mona Lisa, in broad daylight! Ladybug's gonna turn up for sure, and I do not wanna miss it. Just chill, and I'll be over later."

"Okay." Hanging up her phone she turned to look at Anthony. "Chat Noir is a lot of things, but he's no thief."

"Probably an Akuma, Ladybug'll figure it out." Smiling at his sister he grabbed the camera from her pillow and made his way to her main floor. She was still at the top of her ladder looking indecisive. "We'll get ice cream another time, half pint."

"I'm not that short!" she yelled as he made his way out of her room. As he left, his mom was headed for Marinette's room. Instead he told his parents she was with Bridgette getting ice cream. They were surprised they hadn't seen her leave.

.

How was someone else Chat Noir? And how was he supposed to stop them with everyone after him? At least Ladybug believed him. Too bad he wanted to do this on his own. Adrien had a hunch who the culprit was, and he didn't want Ladybug knowing about his part in the Akumitization. Plagg was right, he was jealous, but Ladybug didn't need to know that.

It was a surprise when the copycat captured him so easily. Even worse when he wasted Adrien's Cataclysm.

Today just kind of sucked.

First, Ladybug didn't show up at the revealing.

Then, Adrien lost his phone.

Next, Chat Noir was blamed for the theft of the Mona Lisa.

And now, he was captured and Ladybug couldn't tell him apart from the copycat.

His only weapon now was knowledge, but knowledge could hurt him just as bad as Copycat.

"If you don't believe I'm the real Chat Noir, ask him about our love for each other." She hesitated. "Have I ever lied to you, Bugaboo?"

_Annoy her to pieces?_ Adrien supposed his persistence could be considered annoying. But at least now Ladybug was on his side.

.

It was a lot to go through. Bridgette seemed to be okay in mathematics and chemistry, but biology, literature, and history were hit or miss. What he didn't understand was how she was failing so badly after less than a month when she had to test into all of the classes to start at the school. He wrote a list of things to ask her, ranging from basic understanding of each subject to more complex problems, as well as what she had seen on her entry test and what courses she planned to continue after the year. This should give him an idea of what help she needs and what he should focus on. Now, to figure out how and when to approach her. Perhaps the next time she asks him on a date he'll respond with making it a study date. _No, that would give her the wrong impression._ Oh well, he would think of something

The next morning Felix made sure to put Adrien's phone on the floor of the car before he got in. Adrien swore up and down he had checked the car when he found it. Felix just shrugged and looked out the window to hide his smirk.


	6. Pharaoh

**Pharaoh**

These were the decisions that hurt people. It hurts to make the decision, it hurts everyone involved, and that hurt would last forever. That's the kind of decision Bridgette was making right now: Leave with her mother or move in with Aunt Sabine. Qianru had lost her job and was given a month notice. Not unexpected, but she was having trouble securing a new one and she knew she had a job waiting for her if she went back home. Bridgette wasn't supposed to know any of this, of course. She happened to overhear Sabine offer them both a place to stay, and Qianru asked if she would take Bridgette in if it came to that. In the short times between getting home and her mother making it home, Bridgette had been combing the apartment looking for clues. She'd found enough to know that her mother was returning to China. Would Bridgette go with her? Truthfully, this school was the best option for her having a future in business (outside of any family owned shops already set up), and it was already paid for via the school fund her dad had set up when she was born. Marinette and Anthony got to spend so little time with her branch of the family, she wanted to stick around for them, and Aunt Sabine loved having her around just so she could speak Mandarin again. Plus there were her new friends; she had friends in China, but she connected with Jade and Connie so much easier. Then there was Felix...actually, it's probably better to not think of him. She had a place to stay, friends to support her, and a school that was great for her. All that would be missing was her mom.

Bridgette could weigh the pros and cons for days, but it didn't matter since she didn't officially know about the issue. Perhaps a day with her cousin would help.

.

Anthony hated knowing things he wasn't supposed to know. He wasn't supposed to know that Marinette was Ladybug. He wasn't supposed to know Alya's administrator login info for the Ladyblog. He wasn't supposed to know Aunt Qianru was leaving France. But he did. He liked Bridgette being in town, she was like another sister.

Yesterday, Anthony had taken several stills of the new Pharaohs exhibit at the Louvre, and he dedicated today to clearing his mind and organizing his work. Jalil set him on a rooftop across from the Louvre so he could concentrate without his family nearby. The open space was wonderful and he had a view of passerby in the courtyard below.

First, he made a collage of the new exhibit. Then, he went through his school photos and sorted them into his virtual catalog. This took most of the day, as he had already collected many photos. Last, he brought up and printed the photos he had taken of Marinette's creations. He very slowly put a portfolio together for her, making sure it was perfect. He left spaces for her to add materials and fill in other projects, but it was a good foundation. It was already late afternoon when he started writing a letter to his sister. He didn't plan to send it, but needed a foundation to figure out just how to talk to his sister when his sister was Ladybug.

.

"**Could our very own Ladybug be a high school student in real life? Whoa!**" Mainette heard Alya saying on the Ladyblog.

"I told you from day one, Tikki, I'm a total klutz."

"What's done is done. We can't change what happened. We can only move forward. Alya must not find out who you are. You know how persistent she can be with her blog totally dedicated to Ladybug."

"But how?! Maybe I'm not cut out for this whole Ladybug thing."

"It'll all work out, trust me. Everyone has a past they can learn from." Moving to the computer Tikki switched sites to the new Pharaohs exhibit. "This'll show you why."

Tikki continued to convince Marinette to take Alya to the exhibit and hid just in time for Bridgette to knock and enter Marinette's room.

"What are your plans for the day, little cousin?"

"Please don't call me that. I'm only a year younger," Marinette groaned.

"Would you rather I say half-pint?" Bridgette giggled.

"Ugh! I was just about to ask Alya to go to the museum with me. You wanna come too?"

Bridgette nodded enthusiastically and the two left to fetch Alya.

.

Felix had Bridgette's file for two days now. He needed to start tutoring her immediately or it would look bad on his part for shirking his new duties. Perhaps one more day of procrastinating. Quickly knocking on Adrien's door, he found his brother watching the Ladyblog. Nothing unusual, considering the boy practically lived on the site since his classmate founded it. Was it support for his friend or an obsession with the heroes?

"Plans for the day?" Felix asked.

"Nah, I was just-"

"**OMG! Coming to you live, Ladyblog viewers. I'm at the scene even before Ladybug or Chat Noir! This is insane**!" Adrien and Felix's jaws dropped as an Akuma with a golden head stole a scepter from the museum case. It gave off magical bursts of light, signalling bad news.

"This is live?" Felix whispered. Adrien just nodded, his hand nervously rubbing his shirt by his heart.

"**Alya! Not the time**!" The picture panned over to a dark haired girl trying to take Alya's phone without success.

"I gotta go!" Felix ran to his room and made his escape, scaling down the side of the house. He didn't know why, but Bridgette couldn't be hurt. He wouldn't let her be.

.

The moment Adrien's door shut he transformed and made his way to the Louvre. He saw Ladybug hit the wall and was about to cataclysm the bars when the Akuma took care of that for him.

"How nice of you to hold the door open for me," and he attacked. It wasn't very effective. As Ladybug tried to free him from his coffin, Alya continued filming, while Bridgette looked for a way to get back to the room Marinette had been locked in.

Sitting up Chat Noir became aware of his surroundings again as Ladybug shouted "Let her go!" Not _Alya_! The girl needed a serious lesson in personal safety.

"Hiding behind an innocent bystander? You're weak Pharaoh!"

"I'm way more powerful than you are." With that he left them barred in and Alya over his shoulder.

"Don't forget all the latest behind the scenes are on my blog," Alya called waving her phone around with a wink.

"That Alya is one brave chick."

"If by brave you mean bossy, feisty, and bold, yep, that's her. Come on, get us out of here, Chat Noir."

"Wait!" Bridgette came from behind one of the displays. "Marinette is trapped!" Both heroes paled.

"Marinette?" Chat could hardly breath.

"My cousin," Bridgette nodded.

"We can save her by defeating Pharaoh. The longer we wait the more danger she will be in." Bridgette nodded at Ladybug's logic unenthusiastically. She kept shifting her weight and wringing her hands. Truthfully, Chat Noir didn't like it either, but Pharaoh could cause some real damage and Marinette was resourceful.

"She'll be alright, I'll be sure to find her once the fighting is over. And if Pharaoh doubles back I'll get her to safety immediately." This seemed to calm Bridgette a little more. "Cataclysm!" And the three ran up the corridor pulling up Alya's blog.

.

"**Hi everyone, Alya here, live blogging from the shoulder of a terrifying villain. Huge scoop to come. Stay tuned**!" Felix heard from his phone as he ran. That girl was definitely crazy. He was almost there when he noticed a large figure with a cobra headdress and a girl over his shoulder. He slowed down and hid behind a parked car to get a better look. There were two floating objects at his shoulders and he was wearing Egyptian apparel.

Dropping the girl he started monologuing. "Onto the next phase. Anubis, bring me mummies!" He shot lasers out of his eyes transforming the surrounding people into mummies. Is that what happened to Bridgette?

Felix made a run for the Louvre when he was suddenly engulfed in light.

.

Bridgette stayed with Ladybug for the time being. That seemed the safest until they confronted Pharaoh.

They watched on the blog as Alya found out she was meant to be a sacrifice. "Hold on Alya," Ladybug said as she started putting her yoyo away and running to the exit.

Bridgette shouted "Stop!" a moment too late, and Ladybug was trapped in one of Pharaoh's bubbles. All her motions were slowed down as Bridgette watched her wide eyed. Thinking quickly she looked around for anything that might puncture the bubble.

"I've got to get out of this!" Ladybug said, her voice distorted and slow, "I've done it this time." She started rolling the bubble but Bridgette could easily keep up at just a walk while still looking for anything sharp. She jumped in surprise as Chat Noir ran by and burst the bubble catching Ladybug as she fell into him.

"Thanks for waiting around for me," he smirked. "You stay here," he said to Bridgette, "it'll be safer." Then they ran.

.

"Ahh!"

"Ahh!"

Anthony wasn't sure who exclaimed in surprise first, but he surely wasn't expecting Ladybug to show up while he was writing her a letter, and apparently she wasn't expecting him to be working on a rooftop while she was...what was she doing?

"Hey there," said Chat Noir, "interesting hiding place."

Standing up and looking around, Anthony realized the courtyard was full of…

"Are those _mummies?_"

"How observant of you," Ladybug quipped. "Did you even realize there was an Akuma attack?"

"Uhh, no. I was trying to figure out how to apologize to my sister."

"You might want to come back to that later, it's not safe now." Chat Noir pointed to the door to head back inside.

"I'll be fine here. I didn't even realize it was going on."

"What are you apologizing for," Ladybug asked with a really puzzled look on her face. Sure, Marinette didn't know Anthony did anything wrong...yet.

"You should take care of that," Anthony inclined his head to the mummies and light beam coming out of the Louvre.

Sighing, Ladybug turned to Chat Noir. "We've gotta save her before he completes the ritual, or Alya will be gone, forever!"

"What should we do?"

"Hold back the mummies, while I take on a pharaoh."

"Why do I have to deal with these freaks, while you get to slip calmly round back?"

"Because I'm the only one who can capture his Akuma. And because you're the bravest one out of both of us."

"Sure." Chat Noir said as she spun away. Once she was out of earshot he looked over at Anthony, "I know she doesn't really think that, but I'll pretend she does." His body language said he was tired of arguing that point. He jumped down and Anthony decided to start getting a few shots for Alya-since she seemed tied up at the moment.

Anthony got a lot of action shots and was surprised to see the lucky charm produced a costume. Alya seemed upset for some reason, even though she was no longer rising to the void in the sky. Ladybug coasted down the side of the Louvre and purified the Akuma. Anthony was surprised to see his friend Jalil was the one transformed.

As Ladybug yoyoed away, Anthony "accidentally" tripped by the roof's edge to gain her attention. He knew he wasn't going to fall, but it looked like he was.

The bug was already gone. How was he supposed to tell her now?

"Are you okay?" Anthony jumped as Marinette came through the roof door access.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I saw you up here and wanted to check in."

"Oh, just getting some projects done." She nodded waiting for him to continue, she knew he wanted to apologize for something after all. "Have you ever had a secret?" She startled at the question and eventually nodded. "I know one, one that could get people hurt, and I want to let them know I know, but don't know how." Marinette went on full alert and he could see she truly didn't want to share this with him. Feeling horrible, he betrayed Bridgette, "Aunt Qianru lost her job. She and Bridgette may be moving back." Marinette froze for one breath, then another. She leapt forward and crushed Anthony in a hug and started sobbing. Secrets always hurt, both when they were told, and when they were kept.

.

Bridgette watched Chat Noir run from Alya and her blog, wondering where Marinette was. She couldn't find her anywhere inside the museum. Looking at the crowd of former mummies she spotted a certain blond, but she couldn't worry about him, she needed to find Marinette.

"Hey! Alya! Have you seen my cousin?"

"No, she was in the display room that last time I saw her. I'm sure the miraculous cure put her somewhere safe though." Bridgette nodded with a scowl on her face and they went back inside checking every room as they went through.

"Any luck?" Bridgette jumped at the question. Chat Noir had surprised her.

"I thought you transformed back?" Alya put in.

"Recharged. Have you found Marinette?" Bridgette was touched he remembered her name.

"No. Where could she be?" Alya exclaimed.

"Where could who be?"

"Felix!" Bridgette panicked when she saw him.

"Well, I'm right here, and decidedly not a she." Alya was laughing at the exchange and Chat Noir had an obvious smirk on his face.

"You three keep searching in here, I'll do a perimeter check and come back." He turned to leave then seemed to think better of it. "She looks like you?" Giggling, Bridgette nodded. Felix raised his eyebrows at them and she filled him in on what had happened.

"Yes, it seems I was one of the mummies."

"Why were you even here?"

Clearing his throat Felix gestured at Alya, who was already entering the next room. "I saw you were at the museum and thought that would be a good place to start tutoring you in history." Bridgette visibly deflated.

"Tutoring me?" He nodded. "You?" Another nod.

Bridgette took a deep breath and followed Alya into the next room. She needed to find Marinette, not think about the what ifs and maybes that her life had become.

.

Chat Noir was surprised to find Marinette almost right away. She was with her brother. He silently landed on the railing behind her and was about to make a joke about missing princesses in towers when he noticed she was crying. Silently panicking, because he had no idea what to do when girls cried, he caught Anthony's eye. Anthony silently motioned for him to leave and he nodded and made to return to their cousin to inform her where Marinette was.

After finishing that task he made his way home. The whole way he felt sick to his stomach wondering if Marinette had been hurt. He would have to pay close attention the next day of school.

As Adrien was sitting in Ms. Bustier's class he only felt a little bad for eavesdropping on the girls behind him.

"If it hadn't been for you I would have never found out Ladybug's at least 5000 years old!"

"Hey, what are friends for?"

"I still don't get it though, what she was doing with that 10th grade history textbook?"

"Uh, she probably had to find out what was going on for the past 50 centuries."

"You're probably right. It's tough staying in the loop. I can't believe I lost the textbook though."

"Maybe Ladybug took it back?"

.

Learning about the past Ladybugs Marinette couldn't help but ask. "You must have known much less klutzy Ladybugs than me, right?"

"Every Ladybug is different."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Marinette, you are different, but different as in surprising, unpredictable, and endearing, and very talented. You learn fast."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Marinette was encouraged by her words, but she still wasn't so sure.


	7. Timebreaker

**Timebreaker**

Felix hid his surprise well, though, he wasn't sure if he should be insulted at the change in the ravenette's demeanor. Bridgette had been actively avoiding him since he announced he would be tutoring her. That just wouldn't do, her grades now reflected his own abilities. The events at the museum had only taken place one day prior, but Felix already counted 4 instances that Bridgette could have taken advantage of to get close to him. It would seem he needed to take initiative.

Steeling himself, he began to approach her and her friends at their lunch table. "Bridgette, ho-"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No. Go away. I can't do this right now. Just let it be."

"Ha. No. This has to happen, and trust me, there is no way you'll dislike it more than me," she flinched, "but, accept it, deal with it, and bear through it."

"No." Felix was about to lose his temper. His usually calm and detached facade was breaking as he argued with this whimsical girl. He opened his mouth to give further retort when she took a deep breath and calmly raised her hand. "Please, one more week." The plea was little more than a whisper.

Why did she wish to fail for another week? Were her friends helping her? Glancing around he saw all four sets of eyes glaring at him. He raised an eyebrow in answer.

"You know I've got your back girl," started Jade, "but, what is going on?"

"We were paired in a project," she lied smoothly (so they were not helping her) "but I don't need any more factors in my calculations." She left it at that, going to clean her tray and return to class.

"What calculations?" Felix all but growled at the remaining teens.

Jade looked to her friends for confirmation and nodded. "Her mom is leaving, but she's able to stay. She was only told last night. She hasn't made a decision yet."

_._

_Good grief!_ Anthony thought as he watched his family. Poor Marinette was being asked left and right if their parents looked up to par. Their dad even _groomed his mustache_! They had been married 20 years and were excited for date night. Bridgette had the week off starting yesterday and Anthony had a mock photoshoot with Vincent. That left Marinette to watch the store when Mrs. Chamack picked up her cake. Everyone knew she was plenty capable, but she was also a bit scatterbrained. Anthony's worry was that an Akuma would attack again tonight, but Marinette would make it work. She had so far.

Marinette and Anthony worked together to push Tom and Sabine out the door.

"You're going to be late," Marinette warned.

"Now don't forget, Mrs. Chamack will be coming by to pick up the Eiffel Tower cake in 30 minutes. I'm depending on you," Tom said looking at Marinette.

"Yeah, yeah, no sweat, piece of cake." The siblings shut the door on their parents.

"I'm going to be at Place des Vosges Park. That's not too far if something happens and you need help."

"Pah-lease! It's not like the world is going to end in the next two hours. We got through the school day, so the evening should be a breeze." Anthony was glad to see her confidence; it wasn't always present. "You can go; and have fun! This can be a really good opportunity for you."

"And you're sure you and your friends don't mind my portfolio showcasing one of your girls' days?"

"Of course not! Go. You can't be late."

After a quick hug he was out the door, too.

.

"Wow, married 20 years…pretty cool, huh Tikki?"

"Time flies when you're having fun."

"And stands still when you're doing homework." The two giggled and Marinette started working on her math. It wasn't too much later when Marinette's phone rang.

"Hey, Alya. What's up? ... The what? … The bet between Alix and Kim? … No, of course I didn't forget. I already made the banner for it. … I know everyone's counting on me. … In five minutes? No sweat. I'm on my way already. Be right there." Marinette squealed as she hung up and ran across the room to grab the banner.

"But Marinette, you have to wait for Mrs. Chamack to pick up her cake."

"Ah! I have 20 minutes before she gets here. I told them I'd take care of the banner, and they're all counting on me! Besides, Adrien will be there, too."

"You'll never make it to Trocadero in five minutes, it's way too far."

"Not too far for Ladybug…"

.

Bridgette was trying to be alone, but as she walked around the fountain corner she spotted Marinette and her classmates. They had a banner and everything. She sat back and watched what appeared to be a race. She didn't hear any footfalls behind and jumped when a familiar blond sat beside her.

She waited for him to say something, likely about planning when to meet up for tutoring, but he stayed silent. It was obvious he was watching his brother and barely paying attention to the other kids, one of which just face planted on the starting line.

"Your cousin has a crush on my brother," he finally stated. Of all the things he could have said, that was not what she expected. Bridgette kept her mouth shut to avoid embarrassing Marinette. "I'm pretty sure he learned how to flirt via anime, so that situation may explode in both their faces." He smirked when she felt her face heat up. Anime should not leak over to real life.

The racers were about to finish their first lap.

"Neither of us have had a lot of time around other people. I like keeping my solitude; it hurts when people leave and they can't hurt you if you never really knew them." Bridgette nods, but doesn't really understand. She didn't want him to be a factor in staying, but here he was, holding her heart. "Adrien, however, has always craved any interaction he can get. The school has been good for him, especially your cousin." Bridgette raised an eyebrow. "He says she was the first friend he made on his own. Chloe we knew because of family and Nino saw he needed someone when everyone thought he was like her and offered his friendship. It was his own actions that led to a friendship with Marinette. Besides being oblivious, I'm not sure he'll want to risk that for a romantic relationship." Bridgette nodded again as she watched the pink haired girl lead the boy across the finish line. It was much easier to understand Marinette's situation.

"She didn't even know Adrien's first name when he started school, only that two Agreste sons ex-" she was interrupted by a scream amid Marinette's class.

.

Felix burst into action. Grabbing Bridgette he ducked behind the bench they had been sitting on and stealthily analyzed the situation.

.

Now was not the time for an Akuma. Marinette already needed to be in two places at once, but now Ladybug was needed too. Watching her classmates freeze and fade from time was unsettling, but Marinette knew with Chat Noir's help she could save them. It still hurt watching Rose fall for Timebreakers trick. Would the Cure fix this? Would it bring them back from...

"Let me guess. We're all playing a game of tag, and you're it?" Chat Noir was right on time.

"Exactly." Timebreaker sped towards the feline masked hero.

"Don't let her touch you!" Ladybug had a moment of panic, thinking she might be working alone this time. Chat Noir was the only thing that kept her going in some fights.

"Missed me," he landed after leapfrogging over her head. "Just a second too late."

Ladybug caught Chat Noir up to speed after they saw Timebreaker freeze Alya.

Jumping into the fight Ladybug was caught off guard when her yoyo was used to pull her off her feet. Looking up she saw it was about to be over for her as Timebreaker reached for her earrings, but the drain of energy never came. Chat was frozen in her arms.

Frozen and fading Marinette panicked. This was death. He was dying. It'd be like he never existed and it was _her fault_! He took the hit _meant for her_!

"Oh, wow! Six minutes in one go. Musta been those nine lives." Ladybug was seeing red as she was taunted by Timebreaker. "Gotta go, the past is waiting." Ladybug saw the purple outline around her face and instantly knew what she was being told.

"Go ahead and try," she growled. Marinette didn't know how, but she would get Chat Noir back and this Akuma wasn't going to touch him again. At Timebreaker's attack Ladybug whirled her around and threw her. Not hard enough to release the anger that continued to build as Chat faded away.

When the Akuma made her retreat Ladybug accidentally accompanied her, and soon she was staring at...herself?

.

"It's all Ladybug's fault." Adrien was surprised when Alix ground out the hate filled statement, but wasted no time and ran to find cover. It was disorienting to watch an Akuma victim help its double up. Good thing Ladybug was already on the scene, because two villains would be a difficult fight.

Landing behind LB the first thing Chat noticed was how serious, and angry, she was.

"Chat Noir, I can't explain now, but we've gotta capture Timebreaker's Akuma. Your life depends on it."

"Which life? I've got nine." The scowl she gave him could melt the icecaps.

"I'm serious," she stomped her foot for emphasis. "The Akuma's in her rollerblades. We've gotta release it." Deciding to come back to the "his life depends upon it" comment later, Chat determinedly nodded and fell into step with Ladybug.

Each of them took one of the villains but stayed on the defense, until they took off after nearby civilians.

.

Felix burst into action. Grabbing Bridgette he ducked behind the bench they had been sitting on and stealthily analyzed the situation. Ladybug and Chat Noir seemed to have the two villains occupied until they made a break for the people nearby. They were speeding down the hill when Bridgette ran forward and slid in front of one, tripping her as she went. Felix copied the move on the other. It didn't stop them, but it slowed them down. Bridgette let out a kick, but her leg was caught and she froze like the others. Felix's eyes widened and he looked over to the last place he saw Adrien, and was frozen with a relieved look when he didn't see his brother's fading image.

.

Chat Noir couldn't believe his eyes. "Two Ladybugs? I'm in heaven." With two Lucky Charms called Chat jumped in the fray to buy time. He continued to check what progress they were making, but his mind was too full at the moment.

Timebreaker(s) was quick and he should be focusing on the fight. But two Ladybugs means one came from the future with the first Timebreaker. She was worried for his life and he had definitely not come back as well. Apparently his future self was fading from existence; that wasn't a comforting thought.

It was a quick cleanse later and only one Ladybug and one Alix was left. A glance to the side let Chat Noir know Felix was okay too.

"I was just getting used to having two Ladybugs around."

"Well, now you're gonna get used to no Ladybugs around. Gotta split before I change back."

"Aw! She'll fall for me someday. It's just a matter of time." Chat had always known she cared about him, and today proved how much. She tolerated no nonsense when his life was at stake.

.

_Of course there was an Akuma,_ Anthony thought when his phone's alert went off. Surprisingly there were two Ladybugs though, so maybe one of them took care of Mrs. Chamack's cake? He couldn't worry about it unless Marinette told him though…

.

It was well after dark when Marinette turned the light to her bedroom off.

"Goodnight, Tikki," she whispered, watching the sprite closely. Tikki didn't know what she had planned.

"Goodnight, Marinette. You did really well today." Marinette knew that wasn't true; her partner had died today, and she knew it was her fault.

"I love you, Tikki."

"I love you, too, Marinette."

It only took a few minutes for the kwami to fall asleep, then Marinette removed Tikki's earrings and paced over to her desk for some paper and their box.


	8. Lady Wifi

**Lady Wifi**

"Who are you?"

Ladybug hadn't even properly landed before her feet were swept out from under her and she was pinned below Chat Noir's baton.

"I...I'm…"

"Where's Ladybug?" he growled at her.

"The yoyo, can you get it?" Ladybug kept her hands up to show she wasn't going to attack and allowed him to disarm her. "There's two notes in the storage compartment. One is addressed to you." Chat unlocked the yoyo and pulled out both notes. Reading his, his face showed confusion, then distress. He looked to the new Ladybug and analyzed her.

_'Dearest Chat Noir,_

_I'm sorry. I failed. I knew from the first time I transformed that I wasn't cut out to be a superhero. I tried, and I absolutely loved every minute of it- the adrenaline, helping people, the confidence, knowing you- but I can't put your safety at risk again. I know this girl, and I know she is more than qualified to save the day when she's a civilian, so I look forward to seeing what she can do with superpowers._

_I didn't tell Tikki my plan beforehand, I hope she's not too angry with me. I hope you're not angry either._

_This was a hard decision to make, I lost my two best friends, but it was the right one._

_Much Love,_

_LB'_

Chat Noir had to read it twice to let it sink in, Ladybug quit. His _safety?_ This had to be about the alternate timeline from Timebreaker's akuma.

"May I?" Chat Noir held up the unaddressed envelope, wondering what Ladybug could have told the new girl.

"Um...she addressed me by name…"

He held it out to her, "Fold it over so I can't see that line?" She nodded and did as asked.

_'I know this is a shock, and Tikki can explain things better than me, but she didn't know this was coming either. I'd appreciate you holding your questions for her until she's accepted this a bit more...maybe a week?_

_Firstly, I know you can do this. I've seen you take action in Akuma situations already and that was without superpowers!_

_Second, listen to Chat, he's really insightful when you get past his ever present humor._

_Third, remember to cleanse the Akuma._

_That's about it, everything else you'll learn as you go._

_If you transform and open your compact, you should message Chat to meet you tonight. He tends to go for runs on Tuesday nights, so he should get it. After the Copycat incident you definitely want to meet him outside of an attack._

_Thank you for doing this, and if you decide you can't please give Tikki to Chat Noir._

_He may have questions, there is a note in the compact for him._

_Thank you again,_

_LB'_

Chat closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And then another. Five breaths later he finally opened his eyes. The girl looked a lot like the original; the costume merged to black boots and gloves instead of remaining the same pattern and sported a belt, she had the same hair color and style but her pony tails were longer, and she was a bit taller than her predecessor.

"Can you speak to your Kwami about changing your costume to the original for the time being?" She gave a confused look but slowly nodded. "Hawkmoth has been getting stronger at the same rate we have, if he knows we're out of sync... Well, I don't want to find out what he'll do."

"I'll pretend to be her until we work well together?"

"Yeah...but I can't call you Ladybug...I just can't."

"I'm not sure I can be her, but she trusted me, so I'll try." The Not-Ladybug stuck out her hand, "It's nice to meet you...officially," she smiled at him. It wasn't her fault he felt so miserable, so he took her hand in his and returned her smile. "Will you help me with a name?"

"Well, the first I ever heard "ladybug" was when she said it. I always thought the little black and red beetles were called "ladybirds." But, it's really whatever you want to be."

"Hmm, Ladybird would probably make the most sense. I like it." She smiled at him again. He felt guilty, because all he could think was that he needed to find Lady_bug_.

.

It took two days, but there was another Akuma attack. Marinette found a good hiding place and watched the chaos unravel. She wore the same uniform as Marinette had, and Chat Noir worked well with her. There were a few instances in the battle that they could obviously work on, but they recovered quickly. Bridgette was multilingual, compassionate, brave, and knew martial arts. She could think quickly on her feet, was intelligent, and unconventionally creative. Marinette was certain she made the right choice. An added bonus was influencing her to stay in Paris.

Marinette was so pleased with the new Ladybug, despite the heartache of losing her two closest friends, that she was not prepared for Alya the next day. Marinette's partner in crime was paying closer attention to her photoshop project than class and it was about to get her in trouble. She had trimmed the face out of one of her old Ladybug pictures and was positioning it over one of the ones she took the evening before. Marinette collected her homework for her and gave Miss Bustier a sheepish smile.

"I've got a repair to finish for my aunt's interview tomorrow. I'll catch you later?"

"Yeah, yeah," Alya barely heard her as she waved her off, still critiquing the photos. "Seriously! This CANNOT be the same Ladybug, something's off." But when Alya looked up, Marinette was already entering her parent's patisserie.

.

Seeing Nino walking by, and needing someone to share her juicy discovery with, Alya grabbed his arm.

"Nino, wait!"

"Yeah?"

"Come with me. I need your help!" she said as she dragged him down the stairs. Finding a bench Alya apologized to Nino.

"I hate when Marinette goes AWOL. She ran home without much of an explanation, and half the time I can never track her down when I have extreme information."

"Seriously, my man Adrien's the exact same way. But I guess you gotta be sly when Mr. Control-Freak is your Daddy-o."

Hearing the alarm Alya checked the current news and saw the Ladybug impostor waving as she backed away from the cameras and took to the roofs. But while waving Alya noticed her compact, it had seven dots.

"Hey! I was right!" Looking to Nino she leaned in to whisper in his ear, "That isn't Ladybug."

Laughing, Nino answered, "Seriously? How many people do you think have magical regenerative powers? You are cray-cray, Lady."

"I am so not, you'll see."

.

Marinette ran an errand for her parents and as she got back noticed she'd missed a text from Alya. 'Girl, I have a major scoop! Get back to me ASAP!'

When Marinette went to call her the call wouldn't go through.

"Dang it, no signal." Climbing to her terrace, she noticed someone working on the breaker box.

"Sorry, Miss. Cell tower maintenance. The whole neighborhood's down. No signal for the next hour."

_Oh well,_ Marinette thought, _I'll get ahold of Alya when the signal is back up._ So she went downstairs to finish the last detail on her aunt's dress.

.

"You need to have your head examined," Nino started as they rewatched Alya's film for the umpteenth time. "There's no way Ladybug just quit."

"I'm telling you, she's not Ladybug."

"Can you prove it?" Alya dragged him into class brooding over that very question. She couldn't even vent to Marinette, because she was _still_ missing.

No matter what angle Alya showed Nino in her clips she could not convince Nino that Ladybug was an impostor. Marinette was no help, because she still wouldn't answer her phone. Anthony was at the school and she pitched her theory to him and he scrutinized the pictures, but said it was unlikely, and what she had couldn't be argued as proof. Alya couldn't handle it when Chloe overheard her theory.

"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! As if anyone else could be Ladybug! She's far too amazing to be just anyone." Her taunts and mocking laughter followed Alya as she ran from the school.

.

"Ah, school life. Such a science experiment. A Petri dish of cultivating secrets, lies, and betrayal. A thriving vivarium for my evil little Akumas. Poor girl only wants to find the truth. Fly away, my little Akuma and evilize her."

.

Just needing someone to have her back, Alya tried Marinette one last time. It went straight to voicemail.

"Lady Wifi, I heard through the grapevine that you're seeking to unmask Ladybug. I'd like to help you if you agree to help me too."

"I'll expose the lies of anyone who covers up the truth. Sign me up."

.

Felix's lunch break was, in a word, terrible. He and Bridgette had finally met up for tutoring and she was proving to be quite the enigma. Before they started she had been very dramatic about how happy she was to spend time with him and would _not let go_ of his arm. Once they started, she attempted to distract him every other minute using vague conversation starters: "Did you know my cousin helps with the Ladyblog?" "What fashion show will the Françoise Dupont High School winning piece be in?" "Why do you and Adrien go to two separate schools?" After fifteen minutes the only two problems they got done was a multi step algebra equation and finding the theoretical ph levels of a solution. Finally, Felix had had enough.

"I know why I don't want to be here, I prefer solitude, I don't want someone else's ability to reflect my own, and your frank nature can be especially wearying, but why are you so against extra help that you obviously need? You walked away when I told you we'd be working together, and then lied to your friends when I tried to schedule something with you. I understand not wanting help, but if you need it take it, so that you can get to the point you don't need it anymore." By the end of his rant he had a hard scowl on his face and his voice had dropped to low and menacing. Bridgette wasn't intimidated though.

"I do not need your help understanding this content," she stated meeting his glare with one of her own.

"Then please enlighten me as to _why_ you are _failing_," he taunted. She ground her teeth, grabbed her bag, pivoted and left their corner of the library. In her dramatic exit she forgot a notebook that had been on the bottom of her pile of things. Felix watched her leave and then picked it up thinking it would be a good hostage to begin their next tutoring session, as well as a good thing to study so he had something other than her scores to figure out how to help her. He was surprised when he opened it to see Manderin notes with French scribbled in the margins surrounded by question marks. The marginal notes were all laid out as translations complete with pronunciations. It made sense to take notes in your first language, but as Felix leafed through the notebook it became clear: Bridgette could not read French.

.

"You know he's right Bridgette," a high pitched voice said as a tiny creature phased through her bag once she reached the bathroom. "There is no shame in accepting help." Tikki was very kind, but when she thought Bridgette wasn't watching she got a very sad look on her face. It was obvious she was hurt by the previous Ladybug. Bridgette hated to be so self-centered when she knew others were hurting too.

"I know, Tikki. It's hard to admit something when you've been hiding it for so long though…"

"But you have to admit there is a problem if you wish to fix it."

"Is that why Ladybug gave you to me?" Tikki sank in the air a little.

"No, she saw a problem where there wasn't one. And understood responsibility better than most. Usually people are too pleased that they have the power of creation to stop and wonder if they can wield it well. She was one of the best Ladybugs I've ever seen, but she had so little faith in herself." Tikki's eyes went wide as she realized what she said. "Not that you're not wonderful! You've already proven you can think on your feet and-"

"It's fine Tikki. I understand you miss her and feel a bit betrayed. I'll do my best, but I know I'm not her."

"No, you're you, and that's wonderful too!" The kwami flew up and started nuzzling Bridgette's cheek.

"I'll accept Felix's help, but I like him, I like him _so much_, and I don't want to embarrass myself in front of him by needing help."

"He already knows you need help, now you're just embarrassing yourself by not accepting it."

"And how am I supposed to benefit from him tutoring me when all I think about is him?"

"That I don't know," Tikki answered with a giggle. Feeling a little better Bridgette was about to leave the bathroom when her phone buzzed. A video started playing of a supervillain leaning on Marinette's principal's shoulder. She was talking about how he allowed the Bourgeois girl to get away with bullying just because she was the mayor's daughter. To his credit Mr. Damocles looked shame faced and admitted she sometimes had an abrasive attitude.

"I guess that mystery will have to be solved another time. Tikki, spots on!"

.

When Lady Wifi's video ended with her stating she was looking for "the girl behind the Ladybug mask," Anthony started toward the principal's office hoping to stall the akuma victim. It was obviously Alya who had been akumatized, and he needed to make sure that she was nowhere near Marinette so that she could safely transform. He was surprised to find Marinette in the principal's office, thinking she would be headed away from where the Akuma was last seen.

"Anthony! Alya's been akumatized! I know she's always trying to figure out Ladybug's identity, but does it truly make her this angry?"

"It'll be okay. You could hide here, I don't think she will return since she's done with Mr. Damocles."

"You're going to try to get photos, aren't you?" Anthony nodded and headed out the door, surprised again when Marinette followed him.

They made their way out and the hallways were full as the school evacuated.

"Chloe was making fun of Alya's new theory, I bet she heads to her house to confront her," Anthony explained to Marinette, still waiting for her to split off and transform.

"Alright, lets go!" Marinette led the way.

.

Chat made it to the rooftop across from the Grand Hotel and surveyed Chloe pretending to be Ladybug. Watching he thought to himself that Chloe was right, Ladybug couldn't be just anybody. So far it seemed the new girl was made of the right stuff, though.

"Good thing I know you're not a peeping tom-cat," Ladybird smiled at him.

"Hey, LB. Glad you knew to make your way to the epicenter of most akuma attacks."

Pulling up her compact to watch Chloe as well, Ladybird grimaced. "Wow, it's surprising she's such a die hard fan when she's so…"

"Yeah." One didn't really need words to understand the average opinion of Chloe Bourgeois. Adrien remembered when she was a kind and sweet friend to him in their childhood, but years of seeking her aloof parents' attention had left her...unpleasant.

"Lady Wifi is looking for the original Ladybug. But I guess I'm not the only copy...cat."

"Uh, right. But you're not a copycat. Trying to live up to her and be her are two different things. Remember that."

"Of course, but knowing that and acting on it are also two different things."

Chat smiled. He loved being a superhero, but knew he had things to improve as well.

Eventually the stake out proved fruitful, as they watched Lady Wifi appear from Chloe's phone.

"We've got Wifi."

Chloe was frozen and Lady Wifi started streaming another video. While she was monologuing about how horrid Chloe was, Ladybird and Chat Noir made their way to the penthouse room. Letting Chloe go and ending the stream, Lady Wifi started throwing pauses at Ladybird.

"Ladybug, let's find out who you _really_ are!"

Ladybird and Chat started running. "Follow me!"

"What now?"

"She gets her power from her phone. So lets lead her down to the basement where there isn't any service."

"No service, no power. Nice one, LB."

.

When the large screen appeared Anthony kept running with Marinette at his side, but when Chat Noir and _Ladybug_ shoed up in the stream he stopped short. Marinette flew by him for a few paces then circled back to check on him. The stream ended, but he kept staring at where it had been, umoving.

"Anthony, you're scaring me. Are you alright?"

"She was right."

"What?"

"Alya, she was right." He finally looked away from the sky towards his sister. Towards _Ladybug_. "You gave up being Ladybug."

Marinette gasped and took a step back. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and beginning to fill with tears. "I don't know what you're talking about." Anthony just stepped forward and engulfed his sister in a hug. He didn't know why she gave it up, and he intended to find out, but for now she just needed his love and support.

.

Marinette was panicking. No one was supposed to know! How did Anthony find out? This was the second time in a single week that she was sobbing in his arms and she didn't like it.

After a minute he grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. "I want you to tell me everything. I found out a while ago, at the fashion contest. I didn't mean to find out, it just kinda became clear. You don't have to tell me now, but I'm here for you, I always have been."

Marinette nodded, knowing it would be good to have someone to confide in. "You still need your pictures," she said as she wiped her eyes, "let's figure out where in the hotel they are."

.

Ladybird was pinned to the wall feeling like an utter failure while Lady Wifi streamed another video.

"Who is Ladybug? Is she a superhero or super weirdo. How can we trust the girl when we have no idea who she is? We have the right to know." Wifi was being very hands on, and Bridgette knew if she grabbed her earrings it was all over. Luckily, she went for the mask instead.

.

"Well, we know where they are." Marinette said as they watched the latest stream. "But we can't get in." The door to the kitchen in front of them had a large pink locked symbol on it.

"Let's hide, and we'll get some photos as they exit."

They could hear a pounding on the other side, but their phones went off again… Now the stream was from outside the hotel. Looking to her brother Marinette asked, "What do you do when they are teleporting so much and you don't have powers?"

Anthony shrugged. "Well, she's covering a lot of it herself, so I've had my phone set to record what she posts."

"Seriously? Then why are we here?"

"For extra coverage and candids. Duh."

"**Hurry Chat Noir**," they heard over the coverage. A few seconds later the lock sign disappeared and the new Ladybug ran out. Anthony got exactly one shot of her determined face and long ponytails.

.

Chat Noir couldn't quite get the phone, but he provided enough of a distraction to allow Ladybird to get it. After summoning the miraculous cure, Alya was freaking out asking for an interview, but they left while her back was turned so they could transform back. Ladybird entered a closet and Chat could see the light of her detransformation through the crack in the door.

"We need to talk to Alya," he said through the door. "Tonight maybe?"

"We can head over together," her voice was different detransformed and a little muffled from the door. "Where and when should I meet you?"

"How about the Dupain-Cheng Patisserie in an hour?"

"Of course."

An hour later the pair met on the rooftop across from Marinette's balcony and looked up the Cesaire address. They found Alya behind a large window, comparing photos on her laptop. She excitedly let them in after the first knock.

"I have _so_ many questions!"

"We have one for you too," Chat started. Ladybird kept looking around the girl's room. It had a lot of Ladyblog bits in it.

"Of course," she was lifting her phone to record the conversation.

"No. This is off the record. It's a scoop you can exploit later on, but not now, okay?" She nodded slowly as she put her phone on her bed and sat down, noticing how serious Chat Noir seemed.

Ladybird started, "If you were a villain, you would take advantage of every one of your opponent's weaknesses, correct?" Alya nodded.

"So an apparent weakness should stay secret, to prevent others from pressing the advantage?" Chat Noir continued. She nodded again.

"Even new partnerships?" Hearing this Alya's jaw dropped. Her face said it all: _she was _right_! _

"I _knew_ it." Chat smirked and let out a small chuckle.

"Yes, and you can broadcast it, but wait until things fall into place."

"A good journalist tells the truth."

"And a great one keeps people _safe_," Ladybird added softly. Alya looked guilt stricken at this, realizing that her blog could have endangered people.

"What happened to Ladybug, I mean the original."

Chat looked away. "Remember Timebreaker? The second Ladybug, the one from the future, she felt responsible for something bad that happened. She couldn't handle that happening again while she was Ladybug, so she passed on the Miraculous."

"I'm going to write up an article, but I'll wait until you say it's okay before posting it."

.

The next day Alya went to Marinette's house and was happy to share her new phone with her and tease her about her crush on Adrien. She got a funny reaction from her when she showed her her Adrien as Chat Noir picture. And she chased her and reminded her how clumsy she was when Marinette stole her phone. Alya wanted to talk about what she had figured out before becoming Lady Wifi, but she had to keep her promise to Chat Noir.


	9. Evillustrator

_(A/N using a bit of French dub in a bit of this because I love Chat calling Marinette 'Princess,' though I did have to guess a bit on how it fit in.__)_

**The Evillustrator**

Felix felt prepared. He'd been a student of new languages his entire life and felt that he could replicate his tutor's teachings well. The only issue arose in that Bridgette could fluently speak French and he was used to learning to speak and write simultaneously. Unbothered, he decided it couldn't be that different. So when Bridgette sat down across from him with a scowl on her face, he reminded himself that he was prepared.

"I have something for you," he had her notebook from their previous session in hand. She looked at it, but made no move to take it. Slowly and hesitantly she met his gaze.

"Did you read it?"

"I thought I could help you better if I saw where your notes were lacking."

Slowly nodding her head she confessed, "Even my mom doesn't know I can only read Manderin. My tutors only ever taught me spoken language." Though he wouldn't admit it, it hurt Felix to see how ashamed she was of something out of her control.

"They weren't very good tutors, were they." She whipped her head up and was about to argue that they were wonderful to her, but held her tongue. "We'll focus on the language barrier, and gauge how well we're doing based on discussion of literature homework. Sound good?"

Taking a deep breath she nodded. "I guess so." Her voice was small, but strong. Felix started with the basics.

.

Adrien was not jealous. There was no reason to be jealous. He didn't even know what jealous felt like. (Okay, that may be a lie, but at least Theo was monologing about his Ladybug, Nathaniel didn't do anything.) But if he knew anything, it was that he would not be jealous someone was drawing Marinette.

She was a pretty girl, and Chat Noir would love to save that particular damsel in distress, but he had no reason to be jealous. She was uncomfortable around him at best, and didn't forgive the bubble gum incident at worst. Though, Adrien wasn't inclined to believe that worst case scenario; Mariette was the picture of forgiving.

It was the words on the panel that he saw that set him off. "I love you." and the "I love you, too." in return. Sometimes he felt like he'd never get that. If anything, he was jealous that Nathaniel could escape into a comic book to find it so easily.

But romantic love could wait. Adrien was excited to find out his best friend would be his science partner. Alya was in the group too, and she was pretty cool, so this assignment would be a breeze. The fact it was on particle physics just made it all the better.

.

"Hey, Alya!" Anthony called as he saw the blogger in the library. She was reaching for a book on particle physics. He cringed mentally recalling that project.

"Anthony! What's up?"

"I wanted to hear your full take on that theory you were talking about the other day. You know before…" he stalled wondering if it would be considered bad manners to bring up her akumitization.

"Oh! Yeah." She fiddled with her phone's ladybug charm. "Don't worry about it. I was totally off base."

"You sure?" he asked, knowing her theory had, in fact, been correct.

"Yeah, yeah. I mean really, how can there be another Ladybug?"

"Uh, sure. Well I sent the still I got of her while in the hotel. You can post it if you want, but I wasn't sure how much coverage you wanted on...that."

Laughing she said, "Oh, there was plenty of coverage without any help. But I'll check where your still will fit best."

When the flying hairdryer whirled by, Alya had the Akuma alert sounded within seconds.

.

Bridgette nearly cursed when the Akuma alert on her phone went off. She had actually been reading French! Granted it was a children's story, but it was something. While Felix was distracted reading the details on his own phone she snuck away to transform.

Jumping into her cousins' school library via the window, Ladybird tried to take care of the hairdryer by weighing it down, but that didn't quite work.

"Run and hide!" she shouted to Chloe. Really, she should have known they'd be after her again.

"I got wind that you were being blown away by a hairy situation." Really? What had Ladybug said about Chat's ever present humor?

"Fewer puns, more action!"

.

Marinette watched the fight from under the table she had been sitting at. She was surprised how much she enjoyed Chat's puns when she wasn't fighting. Two more puns and an escaped villain later she watched the duo try to anticipate where they were headed next.

"What do you think?" She jumped, as her brother offered her a hand up.

"I didn't get a look at the Akuma, but 'sketchy' and 'illustrating'? Chat Noir thinks they're taking down an artist."

Nodding Anthony asked, "But which one? There are several in our school and just about all of them would love to attack Chloe."

"Well, that'll be where they head next, her hotel."

"Then that's where I'm headed." He sent her a questioning gaze.

"I can't. I can't abandon Sabrina to do all the work on this project."

"That's cool of you. I'll keep you in the loop." He reached down to give her a quick kiss on the forehead and then tore off.

Marinette made her way over to where Sabrina had been hiding and set up a time to work on the project.

.

"Seems this Evillustrator is targeting you specifically, Chloe. Any idea why?" Chat Noir asked.

"No. Everyone adores me."

"Yeah, because you're so adorable." Ladybird quipped. Chat Noir found her blatant sarcasm amusing, but it went clear over Chloe's head. He didn't know exactly what LB held against Chloe, but his friend's blast radius had reached pretty far. So it wasn't too tough to assume that either Ladybird or one someone close to her had been bullied by the mayor's daughter.

"Yay! Ladybug just said I'm adorable! I totally need a picture of the two of us together!" Chat watched LB cringe away from the camera flash and then be followed around by Chloe trying to get more.

He decided to try to encourage her to loosen up, but she was distracted by a familiar image. Ladybird had picked up Nathaniel's comic, complete with Chloe's addition of glasses and facial hair on Marinette.

"Seriously? Why would she do this? Ugh! Let's go." She made to storm out of the window.

"Are you kidding? And what if the Evillustrator attacks her again?"

"Fine. You stay. Later."

"What do you mean, later?"

"You're the one who wants to protect her, and you don't need me." He saw her wind up her yo-yo. "So-"

"Hold up," he grabbed her throwing arm, "we're a team. And if he shows up, I will need your help."

"I can't stay here, Chat. Between the people she's hurt and my tu-um...what got interrupted when the alert sounded...Just, can't we play defense?"

"Well," he relented, "we can't exactly go on the offensive if we don't know where our enemy is." LB took a deep breath and he made a motion for her to go. When she leapt off Chloe yelled after her. Chat took a calming breath and decided to stay, if only to avoid being Adrien for a little while longer.

.

Marinette was having a difficult time keeping Sabrina on task. She had invited her to work in her room and Sabrina kept ranting about this, that, and the other, mainly to do with Chloe and hidden frustrations. Surprisingly, even with all the talking they already had a lot done. They were just about to draft a checklist for Chloe to do when footsteps approached from the wrong direction.

Part of the window disappeared as if erased, and in came a black, white and red figure from the rooftops.

"It's you-from the library. What are you doing here?" Marinette cried, while Sabrina squealed and ran for the trapdoor. The Akuma froze her and turned to face Marinette.

"I just wanted to see you."

"Okay…" Marinette glanced uneasily at her frozen friend. "Why did you attack Chloe and Sabrina?"

"'Cause Chloe is cruel and selfish," he growled.

"Can't argue with that…" she looked to Sabrina again.

"She's fine. I just didn't want her to alert Ladybug and Chat Noir of my presence." Marinette nodded, though she was still confused.

"Are you...going to hurt me?" she asked nervously.

"You? You're Marinette. You're beautiful and sweet and perfect. And I could never hurt you."

"Wow, that's, um, very...flattering...uh...Thank you?" Could this get weirder?

"So, I just came by to ask you if uh...well...It's my birthday today and...would you want to come to my party?" Marinette couldn't decide if she was flattered or terrified.

.

Ladybird sailed through the air, propelled by her yoyo. She planned to stop quickly at the bakery and then hightail it back to Felix, hoping he would buy her stress eating excuse...if he even asked for one. Pausing on Marinette's balcony to spy the best place to detransform she heard her cousin's voice as she spoke with really nervous inflections.

"Oh! Um, actually...it's not really the best night. See, I've got a presentation to work on and I have to call my friend so we can meet and…" She glanced through the balcony's trapdoor window to see the black and white figure with bright orange hair reply.

"Oh, please Marinette! It'll just be you and me." Scribbling something down, he kneeled in front of Marinette to present her with a paper of some sort. She couldn't confront him with the two civilians in such close proximity.

"Oh, my gosh. That's...me!"

"You like it?"

Hesitating only slightly she exclaimed, "I love it! ...so much that I will absolutely be at your party...on one condition."

"Anything for you, Marinette!" Apparently this boy was very smitten with her baby cousin.

"You can't hurt Chloe anymore. I simply cannot bear violence." Ladybird nearly snorted when she heard that.

"For you and only you. Meet you on the left bank, next to Notre-Dame at sunset." With that he drew himself a jet pack and flew from the window. She watched a redhead from Marinette's class thaw rapidly after he left.

"Marinette! Are you okay?" said the girl.

"I'm fine. But I've got to let the heroes know about a potential ambush site for the new akuma." The smirk on her face was infectious.

"You want to be bait?"

"I'll be fine. But I'll probably have to put the finishing touches on my part of the project in the morning." Using her yoyo, Ladybird called Marinette's cell. "Hello?" she asked, confused by the lack of a return number.

"This is LB."

"Ohmygosh!" Marinette put the phone on speaker.

"I was on my way to recharge when I saw part of your window missing. I hope you don't mind my eavesdropping."

"No! I was just wondering how to get ahold of you!" "Why didn't you save us?" Their voices overlapped.

"I couldn't risk your safety in such a small space. Especially when he wasn't hostile. I've got to bug out right now, but I'll be sure to send Chat Noir your way." Marinette nodded, seeming to forget that she couldn't be seen.

"Thank you."

She called Chat on her way to the library, forgetting her previous excuse and hoping he would be willing to solo this one. The "secret mission" she had mentioned was simply avoiding Marinette. The Miraculous may do wonders to conceal her identity, but she wasn't willing to gamble just yet.

.

Felix had had enough. Bridgette was making progress and then she literally just disappeared! He looked down at his phone for a moment and *poof!* she was gone! He waited for her to come back for about thirty minutes, but he was done waiting. After packing everything up, he made his way to a nearby cafe for some coffee.

Not wanting to go home just yet he sat by the window and watched the light fade from the sky. There was no denying that Bridgette was very bright. After a single lesson, an interrupted one at that, she was reading basic French. She had a long way to go, of course, but today showed promise. Heaving a sigh, Felix pulled out his notes and compiled her next lesson. Really, if he taught her the basics he should be able to assign her simple readings to do on her own and make them a bit harder every time. They'd barely need to meet at all, as long as she continued progressing. Her quick advancement today made that seem likely.

He should be relieved, happy even, having reason to see her less. But that wasn't the case. The feeling gnawing at his gut was a new one. If he had to guess it was worry, as it was similar to what he felt when he knew Adrien was near Akuma sights. Similar, but not the same...probably because she wasn't his brother.

He watched her now as she stumbled up the steps, into the library where they had been. He could walk out and wave her down and demand answers, but he didn't want to. He just wanted to watch what she did, plan her next lesson, and hopefully figure out exactly what made her tic.

He could interrogate her cousin, Marinette, but he wanted to save that favor for something fashion related. Every time he thought he understood her, she'd throw a curve ball, plus her declarations of undying love were entirely out of the blue. Was she an airhead or a genius? She obviously valued professionalism in the workplace, but had no care for making a fool of herself in school. He just didn't understand…

.

Sabrina was arguing with her and Marinette just wanted it to stop. It was fine if she was bait, because it was her idea. Her part of the project was almost done. And she trusted Paris's heroes! Not to mention she had alerted her brother to the plan. Finally getting Sabrina out the door, Marinette jumped when a black clad hero landed a few inches in front of her.

"Wha-o! I thought I was going to have to save you from that girl's claws." Chat Noir continued on and Marinette barely understood what he was saying. He just jumped from one thought to another. When he kissed her hand she had flashbacks to all her times with him as Ladybug and got a little nervous he'd see through her.

"Yeah, I know. You kind of save the day all the time and stuff. I'm Marinette. So, what are you doing here?" And didn't Bridgette tell you we'd be meeting at the Notre-Dame?

"I'm your date for tonight's ball, Princess," he said while flexing and making poses. She couldn't help mocking him behind his back. "But don't worry, you'll be safe with me."

"That puts my mind at ease."

"I am going to need a little help. Care to assist a superhero?" he asked leaning against the doorframe.

"What about Ladybug? Aren't you a duo?"

"She's busy with something tonight, so you get to be my Ladybug."

"Me and Chat Noir fighting crime together? Amazing! What do I do?" Maybe she was laying the fangirl routine on a little thick, but she was only matching his macho act.

"You just need to get him away from his pen, Princess. I'll take care of the rest." With a two finger salute he was off. She couldn't help but giggle as she watched him leave.

.

Anthony had spent the last twenty minutes figuring out how to get into the hotel. It really shouldn't be that hard. But he was having no luck whatsoever. When he saw the message from Mari, that the Akuma had switched locations, he was full of relief. The big question was how she knew. She was the former Ladybug, but something wasn't sitting right in his stomach. He was hanging out on the bridge at dusk and watched as the lights shone on Notre-Dame. It was a wondrous sight.

As it turns out, Anthony had picked the perfect spot, he was just too distracted to notice the Akuma setting up a romantic boat ride until he heard him cry out. Turning Anthony got a quick shot of the butterfly mask around Evillustrator's face and saw his hand shaking. He seemed panicked. Then, as he readjusted his zoom he noticed a girl in pink denim approaching the boat.

"Happy birthday," said Marinette with a smile. Anthony groaned and sank down to sit on the bridge. Of course that was how she knew…

.

Chat Noir knew Marinette could handle herself, but seeing the Akuma get angry anywhere near her set his nerves on end. Evillustrator apologized pretty quickly, but he was anxious to finish this and get Marinette out of harm's way. Marinette's smirk after the outburst let him know she had something in mind, but he needed to stay vigilant and not let her put herself in unnecessary danger.

If it weren't for the impending danger, the ride actually seemed really sweet. He hoped Marinette was able to enjoy the magical music notes floating through the air.

He also saw Anthony. Dropping down beside him, he lifted his finger to ask for silence.

"I'll keep her safe. I promise," he said if a very low voice. Even Anthony had to strain to hear him, so he hoped one of Evillustrator's powers was not super hearing. Scowling Anthony nodded, and cast a worried glance to his sister.

They both glanced towards the boat as Marinette engaged the Akuma in conversation about keeping promises. As the boat went under the bridge, Chat vaulted the rail and landed light on his feet behind the pair. Marinette noticed and took the chance to get his pen.

As she stood and called his name Chat pinned the Akuma with his baton. "You're working with him?" accused Evillustrator.

.

Ladybird watched from a nearby rooftop, easily keeping up with the boat. Every nerve in her body was firing like lightning as she saw her cousin sitting beside a supervillain, but Marinette could do this. And Ladybird needed to be there to purify the akuma when she did.

.

Evillustrator kicked the baton away from him to knock the pen out of Marinette's hand, but Chat was quick to dive for the villain. As they rolled across the deck, fighting for the pen, Marinette did her best to kick every lantern off the boat and she used Chat's baton that had been knocked away to spear the floating luminescent sphere he had created. After all, Evillustrator can't draw in the dark.

As darkness engulfed them when the moon was hidden behind clouds, Marinette sat down behind the bench she had been on earlier and grinned. She could hear them still struggling behind her but it was obvious Chat had the upper hand with his night vision. With a quick, whispered "Cataclysm," and the whizz of LB's yoyo, she knew everything was alright.

Being whisked to the bridge with her brother was an interesting sensation, and she faced Nathaniel, offering him an apologetic smile.

"What the hell, sis?" She cringed as Anthony's arms wrapped around her.

Chat held out his fist, indicating she was integral in stopping this villain.

"Pound it," she smiled as they said it in unison.

Scanning the skyline Marinette saw LB and waved. She waved back, then zipped away.

"I guess you didn't need a lucky charm this time," Anthony commented.

"What are you talking about," said Chat Noir as he draped an arm over Marinette. "Marinette was our lucky charm this time," he grinned. The three laughed and he left to the sound of his beeping ring.

"Chat's got a crush on you."

"What? He acts like that with everyone."

"Sure. Though I suppose you could do worse than a superhero."

"Chat does not have a crush on me."

"Right." The two headed home as Anthony picked on his little sister. Neither saw Ladybird trailing them to make sure they made it safely.

"So, what made you quit?" he asked barely above a whisper.

"Timebreaker," Marinette answered with a tight voice. He motioned for her to explain further. "You've seen Chat in action, he takes risks! And more than that-he takes shots, shots meant for me!"

"I'm not exactly following you, M." She heaved a sigh.

"I got careless. I grabbed her hand with my yoyo, trying to keep her from touching anyone, but she grabbed the string and pulled me off balance. I feel in a heap right at her feet, and when she went to get my Miraculous Chat Noir was just there. I don't know how he was so fast, but he was fading away right in front of me-and it was my fault! I'm so clumsy," there were tears in her eyes.

"You are. But that's part of you and every part of you is perfect Marinette. Sometimes it might seem hopeless, but no matter how many times you trip or stumble you always get back up. That makes you amazing! You and Bridgette both I guess," he added with a smirk. "If she does move in with us we're going to have to hide everything breakable."

The two laughed at what seemed like a family curse. Marinette felt warm inside as she listened to her brother's words. Maybe he was right, but she was still glad she made the decision she did-Bridgette was a great Ladybug.

.

Adrien smiled as he listened to Alya quiz Marinette about the previous evening. Anthony had given her some pics, but made sure that they only appeared as if Marinette was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No sense giving Chloe ammunition, like Marinette dating a villain.

As she closed her locker, Adrien surprised her to ask his own questions.

"Hey, I heard about your adventures with Chat Noir yesterday. Were you scared?"

"Me, scared? It was a dream… I mean you're a dream… I mean in your dreams". Adrien thought it was really weird how differently she treated him and Chat Noir. "Oh, this is a nightmare." He was a bit confused, but 'it was a dream' had to be good, right?

"Okay… So, what did you think about Chat Noir, was he awesome?"

"I mean, sure yeah, but not as awesome as you of course, because, who could be, you're the most awesome of awesome."

"So… that's a yes?" He thought about it and decided that maybe he was imagining things when he saw her mocking him yesterday. As the bell rang he patted her shoulder and left for class.

.

"You do realize you just blathered on to Adrien about how awesome you think he is, right?" asked Alya when he was gone.

"He touched my shoulder. I'll never wash my jacket again."

"Girl, you have got to get better control of your emotions."


	10. Rodgercop

_(A/N I'm really sorry if this is a bit convoluted while you're reading it. I'm doing my usual jump from one perspective to another as well as one scene to another, but when I was rereading it I saw it's not as smooth as I would have liked. The problem is I'm not sure how to change it either, because the show flips from morning to evening, too. So, here it is, in all it's incoherent glory!__Also, this one has a lot less interactions in it. More contemplation.__Hope you enjoy!)_

**Rodgercop**

Parent's career day was hectic for the Dupain-Chengs, to say the least. Tom had two classes to entertain, and he and Sabine had entrusted Bridgette with getting the ingredients ready for him to take the next day. She had had to drop her part time job in favor of her studies, and she missed working in the patisserie dearly. Tikki consoled her and pointed out that it left her making fewer excuses when she needed to be Ladybird. That was something.

.

Adrien was quieter than usual at breakfast. Felix considered attempting a joke, but they were not his strong point. Witty one liners, sure. Jokes and puns, not so much. He'd always _understand_ them immediately, he just couldn't rattle them off in a humorous manner.

Perhaps if Adrien's poor mood persisted he could commission one of Marinette's pieces. Surely Bridgette would act as a middle man if he wanted to buy something. He wouldn't use that as her favor either… Her commissions should be paid for. But, hopefully Adrien would perk up. He just wished he'd tell him what was wrong.

.

"What do you mean I can't transform?" Adrien whisper-yelled at his kwami.

"If you transform the bracelet will get absorbed with me and damage your powers."

"Ugh! Damage them how?"

"Well, I can't see right now, and you use my more acute vision when you're Chat Noir…" Ducking out of sight Adrien watched the latest Akuma victim enter his classroom and ask for the mayor.

"And when I detransform?"

"We'd be just like we are now." Deciding enhanced hearing and smell mixed with a good partner outweighed his lack of sight, Adrien called for his transformation and made his way carefully to the roof. Sitting and listening to his surroundings he could tell where most things were, but he had no intention of becoming a fulltime DareDevil.

.

What was the Akumas' fascination with Marinette's class? Were they all really that unhappy? Sure, other people in Paris had been taken over as well, but the ratio of victims around his sister made Anthony more than a little anxious. Stoneheart, Bubbler, Timebreaker, Lady Wifi and Evillustrator were all her classmates. Pharaoh was his own best bud, and now some cyborg was tearing up the school and Marinette's class was, once again, the epicenter.

Well, once he thought about it, Chloe was in that class, so reality must be a bit warped there.

Hiding in a corner, Anthony had the perfect angle to capture Ladybug (2.0) arriving on the scene. But as he captured his shutter shot he could have sworn Chat Noir _stood up_ when he entered the frame, rather than jumping in.

.

"Chat Noir! What's going on?" Ladybird called to her partner. It wasn't like him to stall jumping into a fight.

"Ah, LB. I heard your yoyo while you were coming. It gives off an odd zip just before you retract it."

"Uh, sure… Let's take this Akuma down, I don't have a lot of time before my next class."

"Of course. Just one hiccup I think you should be aware of before we start."

"Fine," she sighed, turning to see what he needed. That's when she noticed his eyes weren't quite the same color as usual.

"Plagg is an idiot and I'm blind."

"What?!"

"Temporarily. But I should still be of use; I have my other heightened senses."

Cringing, she trusted his self evaluation. "Alright, but we'll be extra careful this time around. What exactly happened?"

"Like I said, my kwami is an idiot sometimes. I'll have to get the full story later."

Hearing sirens start, the duo turned as Chloe climbed into an advanced vehicle with Rodgercop at the wheel. "Are you ready for this Chat Noir?"

"You'll catch me if I fall, partner," he replied with a wink.

With that the pair jumped off Dupont's roof onto the flying police cruiser.

.

Anthony and Alya were neck and neck in the race after the superheroes. It was a race both of them were losing as the flying car ducked out of sight. Anthony groaned while Alya kicked a fire hydrant, both trying to let out their frustration. Sighing, they doubled back to find Marinette.

"So, who is your best friend?" asked Alya randomly.

"Uh, probably Jalil. Originally we just hung out because I wanted to make sure he was included, even with his extracurricular schedule; he has an internship with his dad. But now we're solid. What about you?"

"Marinette is my BFF. Before I came here I had a bunch of friends, but no one I was super close to. I can be a bit…"

"Intense?"

"Yeah. Intense," she laughed.

"That's kind of how Marinette was before you got here. Not intense, just everyone's friend. No one's _best_ friend. I'm glad you two found one another."

"Me too," Alya grinned.

Seeing Marinette the pair waved her down and went to the patisserie. As soon as everyone sat down and Marinette had _just_ taken a bite of her macaroon Anthony asked if Alya had any theories on Ladybug's identity. It had the intended effect of Marinette choking on air.

"Calm down, girl! Do you need some water?" Marinette waved off Alya's concern. "Well, I have a story I'm planning to run, not necessarily about her _secret _identity, but I can't wait for it to go live."

"What kind of story?" Marinette and Anthony asked at the same time. Marinette's tone was anxious while Anthony was amused.

Wringing her hands, Alya stated she couldn't explain. The siblings left it at that and everyone enjoyed their snack as they watched the news for the heroes' progress.

.

Ladybird had to admit, Chat Noir was doing _really _well for not being able to see. He had been thrown from the car, but she caught him. When she was thrown, however, she should not have been surprised that he could not catch her yoyo. Though, when he fell from the car again he _had _managed to block the exhaust. While she hoped his blindness passed quickly (however it had been caused), she was pretty confident he'd be able to cope with the loss. Physically at least.

"**Ladybug and Chat Noir are now outlaws. They must be hunted down and taken into custody immediately.**"

The declaration had surprised Ladybird, but the policemen actually following the orders surprised her more. Perhaps that was part of Rodgercop's power?

Even blind Chat took down a little over half of the officers.

.

It was _career day_. That's what had Adrien all out of sorts that morning. Felix had been watching the news all day, making sure no familiar faces appeared as one of Rodgercop's victims. Oddly enough, by midday the news no longer labeled him as the aggressor, but stated Ladybug and Chat Noir were criminals. Sure, vigilantism was technically illegal, as it operated outside the law, but supervillains needed an equal show of force in combat. Besides, they had shown time and again they are willing to work with authorities as long as it didn't put their identities at risk.

Felix found himself thinking in circles about the heroes' validity as a way of distracting himself from his brother, who was still missing. It was _evening_, and the attack had started that _morning_. He even considered trying to get ahold of one of his classmates to see if they knew where he was. Really the Dupain-Chengs were the only ones he knew. And if Adrien was taking advantage of the chaos just to stay out of Father's usual schedule, he'd be furious at Felix for ruining it. But wouldn't he at least let _Felix_ know where he was?

Groaning Felix switched subjects. What about Bridgette? She had gone missing that morning as well. Rodgercop had stopped briefly at their school after catching two students jaywalking and another one laying birdfeed. The damage wasn't as extensive as Dupont, but several people were assumed to be involved in the Akuma attack because they were missing. Each missing child was called home about and parents were told to either expect them back when the magic wore off or when Ladybug set things right. Bridgette was one of those students. And the entire day had passed.

Would people pass out after being forced to move all day? Would they be returned home or back to where they were when they were 'arrested?' Would any collateral injuries be healed?

Felix wanted to make sure the few people he cared about were all okay, but he didn't know how to find them. And if he did, could he even help?

.

Ladybird had a plan, and Chat Noir _loved_ the plan. She however, did not. She had explained it and he could tell by her voice that her face was lit up and she was excited and then he heard her turn to face him and the entire atmosphere changed.

"Crap. You can't do that! I'll think of something else…" She was probably right that he _shouldn't _take on the police force in his current condition, but she had said _can't_, and he had to prove her wrong…

He knew a spotlight was trained on him, he had heard the slight whine as they moved it. So he tapped out a dance, feeling invigorated.

"Something about Paris just makes you wanna dance."

Of course they tried to arrest him, but he just quipped and made sure to keep as much attention as he could on him.

When he was fairly certain all the officers were on the heap he had been making he took a bow and apologized for his lack of an encore. Then he carefully made his way into city hall to help Ladybird.

He immediately had to send Chloe out of the room and was continuously dodging blasts. He could hear where Rodgercop was when each blast set off, and his spatial reasoning kept him from stumbling and hitting things too much, but if Rodgercop wasn't shooting directly at him he was in trouble.

Luckily Ladybird figured out her lucky charm pretty quick. "Okay, I have an idea. But I still need something like...a ring." They dodged around him again. "Where am I going to get a ring from?"

"I have an idea, but I'll be gone for a moment."

"Can you cataclysm the floor under him on your way out?"

"Sure thing." Calling on his power Chat slid between Rodgercop's legs and out the door before he could retaliate. He felt bad leaving Ladybird in cover, but he needed to get his sight back-and the last piece of the lucky charm. Finding a closet and listening for a moment to know he was alone he called off his transformation.

"Claws in." Adrien had to blink repeatedly to get the shapes around him to make sense. He had been blind for the majority of the day and _seeing _things again was a bit disorienting.

"Whoa, kid. Let's not do that again."

"Alright Plagg. I have some cheese for you, but I can't quite reach it…" Plagg zoomed through the air and phased through Adrien's jacket, leaving the bracelet behind.

"Oh. Wow. That was easier than I thought," said Plagg with wide eyes. He'd only eaten a single bite when Adrien transformed back to Chat Noir.

Running to the main entrance Adrien grabbed Chloe's purse from Rodgercop's car and threw it on its side as he entered the fight again. He made sure the bracelet was part of the debris that now littered the floor.

Ladybird snatched it up with her yoyo, flipped over the desk she had been hiding behind and gloved Rodgercop's blasters, rendering them useless. It was simple to get the akumatized object after that, and she set everything right.

As the pair ran off they had just enough time to hear Chloe exclaim about her bracelet being in her purse.

.

As Ladybird flew home she noticed a lot of relieved Parisians. Many were even in tears. They had been cleaning or running or birdshooing all day, nonstop. She wished she could have freed them sooner.


	11. Dark Cupid

_(A/N Sorry, not sorry...I loved writing this! I hope you love reading it too! You'll see what part I mean..._

_I threw in something I didn't plan to with Anthony, I'm gonna just roll with it and see if it goes anywhere and if not, I'll nix it. We'll see._

_Enjoy!)_

**Dark Cupid**

"Ugh! _Valentine's Day_! As if we don't have anything better to do with our lives than entertain ridiculous notions of 'love conquers all' and 'someday your prince will come,'" lamented Jade to Bridgette and her friends. Bridgette giggled as Connie teased her about 'just being jealous.' Damen was taking Connie to Andre's for a date that evening, and Jade, Bridgette and Samson had decided to have a MS3 tournament.

Really Anthony and Jalil were having the tournament (and Marinette was explicitly _not_ invited) and Bridgette decided to crash it with her friends. Qianru was leaving in two days, and Bridgette wanted to spend as little time in the apartment as possible. Everything had been packed back up quickly, within a day of her finding out she'd definitely be going back to China. Bridgette's things had already been moved to Aunt Sabine's, there was just one box of clothes she had been living out of for the past week. She knew she should be spending time with her mom, but it hurt. Qianru would start crying within fifteen minutes of the two being alone, and Bridgette would feel _so guilty_ for staying.

But she needed to. Her school was the best she could hope for if she still wished to become an entrepreneur. Felix was teaching her to read French and had hinted at her learning to read English as well. She was on cloud nine spending time with her two cousins. Then there were her responsibilities as Ladybird. Granted if she had to leave she could give Chat her miraculous, but she didn't want it to come to that. Tikki had been hurt enough already.

"Are your cousin and his friend any good at Mecha Strike?" Samson asked. Samson wasn't much of a gamer and had only agreed to go at the girls' pestering.

"Anthony's pretty good. His only real competition is Marinette. But from how the two talk about Jalil, he barely knows a joystick from the keypad."

"So, you two should be on par," Damen quipped.

"Ha ha. I know how to throw a punch."

"We never said you didn't," Connie threw in innocently.

"We just said you didn't know how to hold a controller," Bridgette finished for her. The group dissolved into laughter. Even Samson was chuckling at the joke he had walked right into.

Bridgette was indescribably happy in that moment. The only thing that would have made it better was if a particular blond was a part of their group.

.

The laughter was infectious, and he hid his smile behind a book. It was Valentine's Day, and while he didn't have _nearly_ as many admirers as his little brother, he was still accosted with fan mail stating he was some girl he'd never met's 'one true love.' It was exhausting. Adrien disliked it just as much. They made a game of burning the love notes one at a time every time they were having an especially bad day.

The past two years had been bad. After Mother went missing it only took a month for both of them to run out of cards and they hadn't even lasted until May this year. Perhaps the holiday was a good thing, they could restock on their private therapy.

Though, he had already received one note today he didn't plan to burn. It had the same thing written twice, once in Mandarin and once in French. He played the words over in his head as he watched the group of friends on the other side of the room burst into laughter once more.

_You already know how I feel about you, I've not tried to hide it. And I am being honest when I say it...in case you thought I was simply being dramatic. But today I will give my love what he wants: space. For the rest of the week even. I'll be invisible to you, and you won't even know that every time I smile I'll have you in my heart, and every time I laugh I'll wish the same mirth to you._

_Beware though! Next week, when my heart is exploding with need to be with you, I'll be spiriting all the happiness I can your way._

_Much love,_

_Bridgette_

Was she truly thinking of him now, as she laughed with her friends?

.

"Come on, Anthony. I'll be there too, so you don't need to worry about it seeming like a date...unless it's going really well and I can have something 'come up,'" Jalil smirked at Anthony.

"This is so not cool! No one was ever supposed to see that edit! Especially not you! And you're not even angry? Frankly, if you were crushing on Marinette I'd tell you to take a hike."

"Okay. One, seeing my sister in a fancy fairy lit edit was totally weird. Two, if you hurt her I'd end you." Anthony snorted, he was like two times Jalil's size. "And three, both our baby sisters can take care of themselves. Of the two, that especially goes for Alix." Anthony laughed at Jalil's reasoning and then blushed thinking of the pink haired punk.

"Nope. Not inviting her over. I'm a total dork and I'd like her not to know that...or at least not have proof." Jalil laughed again, shaking his head.

"Alright, alright. Let's just set up this game so that I can pretend I know how to play." They cracked up again and started the console.

.

'Go for it! No regrets!' That's what she had said before Kim was akumatized. She'd have advised against it if she had known who he was talking about. But now Marinette was running from her best friend as she tried to attack her with heart shaped candy-apples. It was bad enough one got stuck to her shirt, but Alya seemed to be targeting the second one at her hair. Marinette kept running.

.

"Anthony style! Boo-ya!" shouted her cousin as he won. Again.

Samson groaned and Jade called hacks, but Bridgette knew he was just that good. She was a bit of a button masher herself. If she could manage to get behind her opponent she could pull a combo, but the one she knew best was only useful in that position.

Tikki was hanging out in the kitchen, and when Bridgette checked on her she seemed to be enjoying herself. Both Kwami and holder knew they needed to get used to the space and how to avoid her family easily. They'd be spending a lot more time here.

Marinette burst through the apartment door and slammed it behind her. She was panting heavily as a violent pounding began from the other side.

"Akuma," she breathed out between gasps.

That's when arrows started flying in the window.

"No love or friendship will escape my fury!"

Anthony, Samson and Jade's lips turned black as they began terrorizing Bridgette, Marinette and Jalil. Running down to the bakery, they shut the infected in the apartment and made their way to explain what had happened to Uncle Tom.

While Marinette was commanding everyone's attention, Bridgette slipped off. Ladybird was needed.

.

As Chat advanced on the battle that just broke out he listened to Dark Cupid describe his powers. Apparently he could make someone hate their loved ones. A harsh power to be sure. Chat was worried who he would go after if hit. He had fallen for Ladybug pretty hard, but she was gone. He was good friends with Ladybird and trusted her with his life. But would he target his classmates? Would Nino, Chloe and Alya be in danger of him? Would _Marinette?_

Putting those thoughts away Chat caught Ladybird just as she tripped over the roof's edge.

"Who have you fallen for today, little bird?" Chat asked with a smirk.

"If my heart was in it every time I tripped I'd owe a kiss to everyone in Paris." He laughed at her quip and they quieted their voices as Dark Cupid flew over head.

"I think the akuma is in his pin."

"How do you know?"

"Sometimes I do think and analyze before jumping into a fight. I had Plagg scrub this from one of his classmate's phones." Chat held up a copy of the image Chloe had sent the class earlier. He watched the empathetic pain cross Ladybird's face and knew she had experience with unrequited love. Clearing his throat he pointed out that the pin was the same as what Dark Cupid was wearing now.

"I don't think I'll ever figure out what all our Kwamis can do for us."

"I'm not sure they know…"

"Well, we better get moving or else-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Chat didn't even think about it when he spun them to take the hit. And he was _trying_ to fight it, but…

.

"I _hate_ you Ladybird! Trying to fill Ladybug's goody-two-shoes! It makes me sick watching you flail about playing at a game you were never meant for!"

Felix had heard of Chloe's supposed valentine from Adrien and he was on his way to her hotel to set her straight when he overheard Chat Noir's outburst. It was pretty obvious something was wrong.

He had seen the evidence of an Akuma attack on his way, but chose not to be bothered by it. The heroes would fix it; they had so far. The attacks had become a mild inconvenience to him-unless Adrien or Bridgette were in trouble. Scratch that, just Adrien-he shouldn't care about Bridgette.

He watched the red heroine vault the nearby buildings and head (surprise, surprise) right into Chloe's hotel. _What did she do now?_ Just as he entered the lobby he heard Chloe question who could have a vendetta against her, and his own scoff nearly drowned out Ladybug's own reply of 'who doesn't.'

"It's because of this of course!" Chloe pointed to the 'valentine' outside, but Felix blocked their view. Oddly enough Ladybug flinched away when she saw him.

"What stunt did you pull to get him to sign it?" he asked calmly.

"No stunt," she replied, her voice slightly higher than it should be. He just fixed his glare on her. She was good, but they'd known each other long enough that she knew when to admit defeat. "Well, maybe-"

"It's alive!" Sabrina shrieked.

The next thing Felix knew his hand had been grabbed and he was being told to run as Ladybug pulled him along. When Chloe and Sabrina ran past him and Chat dropped in front of Ladybug he jumped the fence and hid in the bushes to watch the confrontation. He even thought to pull up his phone.

.

"Well, well, Ladybird," Chat taunted.

"I don't want to fight you, Chat Noir!"

"That _friendliness_! It's so revolting. You are definitely not my friend."

Marinette had decided to track the fights and went to the epicenter of all (well, most) Akuma attacks. She made sure to stay relatively out of sight, and was glad that when LB led Chat, she kept him on the buildings just across the street. Just as Marrinette was about to cross the street to follow them back towards her home Dark Cupid flew overhead. She hurdled the fence and caught her foot, but just as she was preparing to eat dirt her chin met a hard shoulder blade instead.

As they both groaned she looked to see who she had inadvertently attacked. Only to be met by pine green eyes, so similar to Adrien's emerald ones, yet obviously different.

"Do you mind?" Felix growled. She scrambled off of him extremely embarrassed. "Is your ankle okay?" his voice softened ever so slightly, she almost didn't catch it. With a nod she made her way back over the fence. He followed. "Where are you going?"

"Both Alya and Anthony are under the Akuma's influence, so I want to get pictures."

"I have a recording. Though you see leaves more than the heroes. But the audio is good." He seemed like he actually wanted to help.

"Last time I saw you during an attack you were less than inclined to help." His cringe was nearly undetectable.

"I have no reason to believe my brother is in immediate danger."

"Hmm...let's go. I want to try something."

"What's that?"

"I was called once, when an Akuma was after me. I want to see if the callback number works."

"They left a callback?"

"I was surprised too. But the caller ID is...odd. It's like a million digits. But I'm hopeful."

"Are you going to distract Chat Noir while Ladybu-I mean Ladybird fights him?" She looked at him funny when he said Ladybird, but decided to wait to ask what he meant.

"No, I'm going to call her. It's a love based Akuma. And Kim is in my class. We were just going over what conquers all in class."

"I don't understand."

"A _kiss_. Think of almost any fairy tale. Chat is under an evil curse," she hit dial as the battling heroes came into view in the park, "and a kiss will break it." They watched Ladybird answer her compact as she continued dodging Chat's blows. Marinette put her phone on speaker.

"Who is this? How did you get this number?"

"_You_ called _me_, remember?"

"_Marinette?!_" They watched from the shadows as she pulled an earpiece out of the compact and used her yoyo to zip up to a new vantage point.

"I _know_ this sounds ridiculous, but kiss him!"

"What?! No!"

"It's just like a curse!" Felix looked like he didn't know if he should laugh at her or not.

"That's just fairy tales!"

"You could _try_ it!"

"Even in fairy tales it's just _true_ love."

"Platonic love is still love." Just then Dark Cupid joined Chat Noir.

"I'm really sorry, but I don't have time for this."

"Fine! _I'll_ try it."

"CATACLYSM!" Chat cried, but Marinette was already in motion.

"LUCKY CHARM!" Marinette watched Ladybird avoid Chat and use her Lucky Charm on Dark Cupid, and just as Chat turned to face her on the fountain Marinette leapt between them.

She felt the warmth of his lips touch hers, even as he was in the middle of calling out to Ladybird.

She also felt the pain of his Cataclysm grazing her hip.

The pain in Ladybird's voice let her know the worst was happening, even as she felt it climb her body.

Through the pain she kept her eyes open hoping he'd return.

.

Bridgette couldn't afford tears. _Ladybird_ couldn't afford tears.

Marinette drifted away on the breeze like so many ashes and Chat fell to one knee as he blinked back into awareness.

Choking back a sob she yelled for Chat to use his claws as she grabbed his shoulder and hand to swing him towards Dark Cupid. Cleansing the akuma was simple after that, which was good. She could hardly see through her tears or breath through the sobs she was holding back.

.

Chat knew something bad had happened. He assumed it had something to do with his Cataclysm.

He saw the remnants of it when he came to, but he couldn't remember what he had used it on. Or what had brought him back.

Ladybird was also having trouble. He could see it. Unshed tears, shaking shoulders, random hiccups. She was barely holding herself together.

To top it off, Felix was acting as a bystander nearby. Not much phased his older brother, but the look of utter horror that was currently on his frozen features gave Adrien reason to panic.

It wasn't until the Miraculous Cure set Marinette Dupain-Cheng right beside him that he connected the dots.

She smiled up at him, so warm and bright.

He staggered back a step and looked to Ladybird, who was now openly crying in relief. Nearly falling as he backpedaled away from this sweet and _amazing _girl, that he just _killed_, he fled. Running as fast as he could. He didn't care where he ended up. After finding an alley he barely noticed as his transformation fell. He just sat with his hands covering his head and he cried. He wept and he sobbed as the image of Marinette smiling up at him as if nothing was wrong wouldn't leave his head.

_(A/N just and FYI for this week, I'm going to be updating some of my previous chapters-just getting rid of some grammatical errors and such. I'm not sure if that will send an alert to you if you're following the story, but I thoroughly apologize if it does and seems like spam! Just fixing stuff up...)_


	12. Horrificator

**Horrificator**

Adrien felt really bad for Mylene. She was trying really hard, but bravery wasn't her forte.

He felt the morbid humor boiling inside him as she cowered from the 'monster.' He knew he was a real monster, would she cower from Chat Noir?

Ladybird had been trying to contact him, but he made it a point to only show up for Akuma battles for as long as needed. One of her messages even said Alya wanted to run her article. Apparently both Marinette and Felix had heard him refer to LB as Ladybird, so Alya wanted to be the first to post the scoop. He sent a concise reply that he thought that was alright.

Felix had also been a bit withdrawn recently. In an odd break of character they had even spoken about it. Adrien had caught him rewatching the video he got of Marinette being Cataclysmed. After running to the bathroom to throw up, he said it was probably good Alya didn't get ahold of it. Felix nodded eyes still intent on his phone.

"I'd imagine it's a lot."

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked as he rinsed his mouth.

"He wields destruction in its truest form. He could level Paris just by tripping while his power was active. He must be someone with a lot of self control."

"Marinette _died_."

"And he was not the one controling himself at that point, was he?" Adrien just scowled in response. "I know you're fond of her, but you can't hold ill will against Chat Noir for that. If anyone, hold Hawk Moth responsible." With a dark promise in his heart Adrien agreed.

Right now, he was watching Marinette again. She was following up on reprimanding Chloe for embarrassing Mylene after Adrien made his distaste clear. But Chloe was right on one thing, Marientte was always saving the day.

.

Anthony and Bridgette were having a boring Saturday. He had already crushed her, her friends, and Jalil at MS3 a few days ago, so Bridgette weaseled her way out of another tournament, and convinced him to leave the apartment. They decided to covertly crash Marinette's video shoot over at the school. He planned to take behind the scenes photos, while she was going to move props and other items-just slightly. Enough to make them question themselves and feel weird.

It should have been fun. But Anthony wasn't expecting Bridgette to run into someone as they walked in the front door. _So much for covert._

Luckily, it wasn't one of Marinette's classmates she ran into. Unluckily, it was Felix Agreste.

Anthony really had no reason to dislike Felix. He barely knew him. But from his reputation, and the few times they had met, it just seemed like his nose was too far in the air and he had little care for how his actions could hurt others.

Right now he corrected Bridgette's balance and then stepped back as if burned. Bridgette's face was red enough Anthony could believe she _had_ actually burnt him.

"Felix! Hud are you wooing dear?" Bridgette shrieked.

Anthony facepalmed.

Felix's lip twitched into a smirk momentarily before defaulting back into his neutral snooty face.

"Adrien knows Father's rules, but given how he got to this school, I was sent to make sure everything remains acceptable." Bridgette nodded with a very serious look on her face.

"Acceptable?" asked Anthony.

"He's famous and his image must be maintained. From what I overheard a kiss was added into the script last minute. That's why I'm here. I'll see if they sort it out themselves, but if they leave it in the script I'll have to cut in."

"Did you find Mylene?" they overheard Alya say in the nearby girls' bathroom. "Well, you better come ASAP, producer. There's some serious lip-puckering about to get going on."

Anthony and Bridgette hid in the doorway as Alya and Marinette raced upstairs. With a sigh, Felix made to follow the girls.

"Who is he kissing?" Bridgette asked while bouncing on the balls of her feet, as she followed him to the staircase.

"Short blond in the bandanna is supposed to be the co-star, so I'd assume her. But she left."

He finished just as they got high enough on the stairs to watch Marinette blow the classroom door open and yell cut, interrupting a kiss between Adrien and Chloe. The cousins pressed against the side of the staircase to watch the ensuing argument while Felix leaned against the opposite rail, observing with an amused smirk on his face.

.

Felix _really_ hoped he didn't have to do anything. His brother had enough issues because of Father without him ruining this school project too. At the same time he had no issues whatsoever with putting Chloe in her place. Adrien valued her friendship too much to jeopardize it by showing her a backbone, but Felix had no issues with being alone if she wished to abandon him. Adrien had the rest of his classmates now too, so as far as Felix was concerned he no longer had an excuse for letting Chloe push him around.

For now though, Felix was content to watch Marinette wreck havoc on the bully. For as small as she was, she knew how to be commanding as she argued with Chloe, the 'director,' and the 'writer.'

Her plan to get rid of Chloe was also ingenious, though Bridgette and Anthony had to hide in a nearby classroom quickly. He could still see the two, and the moment Alya mentioned Marinette being the actress Bridgette began to give him puppy dog eyes despite Marinette's protests that could be heard. He didn't even know Bridgette's eyes could get that big. Even from this distance they were so obviously blue, it practically hurt. Sighing, he climbed the rest of the stairs and leaned against the wall where they could hear him.

"It can't be shown. They'll have to reshoot it," he whispered to her.

"Please," she whispered back. He just sighed, closed his eyes, and rested his head on the wall. As soon as the scene was done he'd correct them and they'd fix it. Would Marinette really be okay with her first kiss with Adrien being while acting? Suppressing another sigh he decided not to worry about it.

.

Adrien's heart had pretty much stopped. He could hear Alya convincing her to do the part and Nino encouraging them to make a quick decision. It physically hurt to think of even touching her, but he was _Adrien_ right now and he couldn't Cataclysm her. He also couldn't say anything against her doing the part without seeming like an ass. So, he swallowed his anxiety and let Juleka do his blush again. Hearing something he opened his eyes and saw her there.

"What's that?" he asked, willing his heart to beat normal.

"It's got to be believable," she cringed. Seeing her worry, Adrien's own anxieties melted away. He just wanted her to be comfortable, even if it was with a monster.

"Don't worry," he said as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You'll do fine." He didn't mean to pull her to him, but that's what he did. Perhaps his subconscious remembered her kissed and liked it? He smiled at the thought and felt a bit guilty that she didn't know it was him she kissed earlier that week. But then again, he didn't actually remember the kiss and only knew it had happened because he watched it on his brother's phone.

When Chloe burst in the door and stopped the kiss, Adrien was surprised at how disappointed he was.

.

Bridgette was about to lay into Chloe about her accusations towards Marinette's group skills when a scream interrupted her rage.

The class ran downstairs and when Alya suggested that Kim and Max were playing a sick joke on the class she spoke up-and watched everyone jump as they realized she was there.

"No joke, at least not from them. Anthony and I were planning on pranking you, but it seems like we'll have other things to worry about."

"We should go to Principal Damocles' office and tell him what's going on," said Marinette. Anthony scoffed as she told Nino to stop filming.

"You said this stuff was in the bathroom too?" Bridgette asked Marinette as she leaned over the goo.

"Yeah, right over there."

"You all go ahead. I want to check this out." The group left towards the principal's office while Adrien went back to the classroom and Bridgette headed to the bathroom.

"Hold on," Felix's voice was as hard and cold as ice. "No one should be alone. Marinette, join your cousin. Adrien, I'll come with you." Bridgette felt a little crestfallen that transforming wouldn't be as easy as she originally hoped.

.

Marinette had to figure out how to get away from Bridgette without letting on that she knew her secret. It actually proved easy. Marinette decided to 'stand watch' outside the bathroom, planning to pretend to be taken so that Bridgette could transform while alone. Instead as she exited the bathroom to let Bridgette look at the goo she saw a pink slime monster jumping back and forth across the roof and screamed. Of course after she screamed she was taken, and placed in some...sack? It was pretty gross.

.

Adrien didn't wait for Felix when he heard the scream. He might have been able to stop it if he had been transformed. Instead he raced down the hall towards where he heard a high pitched squeal coming from and called his transformation up as soon as he was through a door. He took his left shoe off mid transformation and jumped to the next room following a light squishing noise.

"ADRIEN!" he heard Felix scream in the previous room. The trail he had been following was gone, so he looped around to appear from behind Felix, asking what happened. "Chat Noir! It's my brother," Felix held up the orange shoe, "he's been taken." There was panic on Felix's face. Not the full fledged horror at seeing Marinette disintegrate, but it was easy to see he worried over Adrien.

"He'll be fine. We just need to find the one responsible." Scrunching his face Felix agreed. Chat knew logic would convince him.

Now to save Marinette, and anyone else who had been captured.

.

When there was a scream and Marinette disappeared Bridgette wasted no time in transforming. Dropping in on the class she found Nino still filming and narrating as he went.

"We've got to calmly evacuate the building," she started when she was interrupted by Chat Noir.

"Easier said than done. I just barely made it in before everything was sealed off. It's impenetrable." Everyone noticed Felix behind Chat Noir.

"Uh, where's Adrien?" asked Nino.

"He heard Marinette scream and took off running. I found his shoe. The girls are also missing. So much for safety in numbers."

Bridgette put all her effort into staying professional, but Felix's heartbreak at knowing his brother had been abducted by a monster was plain on his face.

"Shall we take a stroll?" Chat asked as he guided Ladybird away from the group of students. "We both know that Hawk Moth's taken another innocent victim somewhere inside this school."

"And there's only one way to get rid of this pink goo and get everyone out of here: capture that victim's Akuma."

"Exactly, I love it when you read my mind."

As she stated they'd need to find the missing people Nino jumped over and was enthusing about being with 'Chat Noir and Ladybug.'

"By the way, the new outfit is totally cool!"

"It's Ladybird, actually." she corrected as she led the class to the hall.

.

As they made their way to investigate where the monster had been Anthony was worried about his sister, super worried actually, but something was nagging him. Chat Noir knew the pink goo was indestructible and had come to the rescue because he saw it beginning to encase the school. Sure, that made sense. But how did Ladybird know about it? She got here first, so she wouldn't have noticed the issue at all or would have come to the same conclusions as Chat Noir.

Unless she was already in the building. Plus, Marinette knew her. How else would she have gotten the Miraculous to her?

He looked up just as Ladybird stole a blushing glance at Felix.

Like she had a crush on Felix.

Bridgette had a crush on Felix.

Bridgette was Ladybird.

His _cousin_ was Ladybird.

He slumped into a sitting position on the floor to ponder the universe making his entire family superheroes when the teacher's desk at the front of the room flew over everyone's head.

A giant pink monster was holding Nathaniel in the air.

.

Felix had jumped behind the front row to avoid the teacher's desk as it was thrown and wasn't able to flee the classroom with everyone else. He nearly laughed as the girl with dark and purple hair smiled at the beastly monster and called it awesome. When it was obvious the slimy being couldn't scare the girl it shrank down a little and tried to retaliate. Ladybird grabbed him and the girl and fled the room while Chat Noir engaged it.

When everyone was in the entrance area Ladybird noticed the same pattern.

"Fear! It's fear that gives it its strength!"

Even with the realization Chat Noir and Ladybird were pinned and the pink haired girl and the redhead were taken... but they discovered they could follow the trail when Chloe screamed and they found out she and Sabrina had been taken as well.

As he brought up the end of the group he noticed something odd, Anthony seemed off. They hadn't spoken much in the past, but he always seemed animated and optimistic. Felix supposed that might be a difficult attitude to maintain when both his sister and cousin were missing.

"Hey," he began, not sure how to comfort someone, "they'll be alright. The miraculous cure has fixed worse things than this."

Anthony scoffed. "Yeah, I guess people disappearing from existence is pretty bad. I'm glad we haven't had any other Timebreakers."

"Very true. I actually saw Bridgette get hit that time. She was trying to fight one of them off."

"Yeah, that sounds like her."

"I was referring to Dark Cupid earlier this week though. When your sister was hit…" he trailed off wanting to remind him there was obvious reason to remain hopeful but not make him relive any bad memories.

"I didn't realize she was one of his victims. I can only imagine what she did while under his influence. She loves so wholeheartedly I don't want to know what an equal amount of hate would look like."

"Oh." Felix schooled his face. If Marinette didn't tell her brother about being Cataclysmed then it was not his place to inform him. But if such a thing had happened to Adrien he would want to know. Felix decided not to worry about it at the moment.

While they had been talking a wall of slime was thrown behind them, blocking their escape.

"LUCKY CHARM! Guitar strings? Are you kidding me?!"

"We could play Mylene's song!" the large boy enthused.

Ladybird was quick into action creating a makeshift band that even Felix had to participate in. They then sang the most _ridiculous_ song about a smelly wolf. As they played and sang the monster shrunk down to the size of a kitten and made its way to the large boy who had the idea to sing.

Moments later the cure set everything right, and people were deposited back to where they had been captured. As Ladybird and Chat Noir left everyone went to find those who had been captured. Felix found himself looking for Bridgette just as hard as Adrien.

.

"Hey, Felix. Thanks for not interfering much today," Adrien said as they got home.

"Well I couldn't keep you from kissing the Dupain-Cheng girl if you really like her." Adrien sputtered at Felix's offhand remark. "Though, it wouldn't have been able to be part of the show."

Clearing his throat Adrien set his brother straight. "Marientte is just a friend. I'm just glad she trusts me." Felix snorted but didn't offer a verbal contradiction.

"Do you feel like setting a fire?"

"We _just_ got our stash back up. You want to start burning Valentines already."

"I had a bad day."

"Yeah, me too..."

"You've been acting strange all week."

"You've been acting strange your whole life. I thought I'd take the burden from you for a bit." They chuckled as they threw insults at one another and made their way up to Felix's room. Adrien let himself into the closet and grabbed a random card. "Got one." Felix's eyes got wide as he grabbed the card from Adrien's hands.

"Get another one."

"...Why?"

"Just do it?"

A smile spread across Adrien's face. "Who is that one from?"

"No one of consequence."

Lunging, Adrien grabbed the card and glanced at the signature before reading it aloud as he ran from Felix's grabbing hands.

"'You already know how I feel about you, I've not tried to hide it.'"

"Stop! Just stop! Okay?"

"Do you _like_ Bridgette Cheng?" Felix scowled. "You know, the _cousin_ of the girl you were just teasing _me_ about."

"She… takes me out of my comfort zone. But I have no romantic feelings towards her, just respect." Adrien laughed. 'Out of his comfort zone' meant he enjoyed her company and didn't know how to not be alone.

Reaching into the closet he grabbed another card.

"Acceptable?" With a single nod Felix made his way to Adrien's room and grabbed one off of his pile.

Laughing he read a bit of it out loud. "This one is crazy. 'Your hair shines like the sun; Your eyes are gorgeous green; I look at you and wonder, Your innermost thoughts and dreams."

"Whoa! Holdup! Someone answered my poem? But I threw it away!"

"You wrote something this sickly too?"

"Ha Ha. Yes. But like I said, I threw it away."

"Who'd you write it for?" Adrien felt his neck and cheeks heat.

"Uhh...no one of consequence...?"

"Oh no, little brother. Who was the recipient of your oh so _sweet_ poem?"

"Ladybug," he mumbled.

"Ladybird?"

"Lady_bug_."

"Ah...well, Ladybird seems pretty cool. Seeing her in action up close this week was awesome."

"Well, yeah. But she can't replace Ladybug."

"She already has."

"That's hardly fair! You have no idea why she left."

"'Something bad' was all the Ladyblog said. But Marinette _died_ on Ladybird's watch earlier this week and she is still going now." Adrien swallowed hard at the reminder of what his power had done to Marinette immediately after she saved him. Grabbing the poem card from Felix he pulled another from his closet.

"Let's burn these," he said holding up the two cards that were acceptable. Felix smiled and grabbed the lighter.


	13. The Mime

**The Mime**

"What you did for Alya today was very cool, Bridgette!" Tikki exclaimed as Bridgette spun around in her chair. She had officially moved into Aunt Sabine's and she and Marinette were sharing the attic bedroom. Bridgette was afraid transforming would be difficult, but Marinette always seemed to be elsewhere when the need arose. She supposed some Ladybird luck was rubbing off into her daily life.

"You think? I would have liked to do more, since she's Marinette's BFF, but-"

"Girls! Alya's here!" Aunt Sabine called from downstairs.

"I'm here!" Marinette yelled from what sounded like the living room.

"Don't worry Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, I'll just head up," came Alya's voice as Tikki hid. The three met on the main floor of the shared bedroom and Bridgette watched Alya freak out about her recent encounter.

"Girls! You will not _believe_ what just happened to me!" They made their way to the terrace as Alya continued her story. "So Ladybird had just saved a bunch of workers from a supervillain! There were like a gazillion reporters waiting to interview her _and_…_that's when it happened!_" Pulling out her phone Alya showed the cousins the clip she had just shot before coming over.

"**Hey, aren't you Alya? The girl who writes the blog about me?" **Ladybird started after dodging all the other reporters. "**The...Ladyblog?!"**

"**Uh, yeah"**

"**I like your work. It's awesome! Keep it up."** Bridgette noticed some of the disgruntled faces of other reporters in the background, but gave them no mind. They had been _way_ too pushy when asking for an interview.

"**Your earring, Ladybird!"**

"**Ah! Thanks. Better get going. Bug out!"**

"Uh, that was super…" Marinette started.

"Cool! Right!" Alya finished for her. "Ladybird noticed me! She credited my blog!"

Bridgette felt like pointing out that they had interacted personally before, but she supposed it was different to be called out in a positive manner when surrounded by people who considered themselves your betters.

As Alya ran downstairs to grab her laptop Marinette commented that Ladybird had definitely made her _very_ happy. Bridgette just smiled. She could feel Tikki patting her collar and thought maybe she wanted to watch the video too, so she asked to see it again. As Marinette handed her the phone it slipped from her hand.

Luckily, Bridgette caught the phone.

Unluckily, she deleted the video.

As the cousins were squealing in horror at their collective clumsiness Alya reappeared.

"What are you two talking about?" she asked about their shared incoherent noises.

"The pigeon!" Marinette replied a little too quickly.

"Say hi to Jacque!" Bridgette chimed in.

"Say bye-bye, Jacque, and come down. You have visitors."

.

"Check this out, Felix!" Adrien said as he entered Felix's room. He had barely bothered to knock. Adrien knew Felix enjoyed his privacy, but he was bored and he was pretty sure he read somewhere that it was his duty as a younger brother to bother him sometimes. _Oh, that has potential for a pun somewhere… bother/brother._ Adrien's thoughts were brought back to the matter at hand when he saw Felix already had the Ladyblog up and was viewing today's video.

"It seems your friend has become a favorite of Ladybird's."

"Well her blog _is_ pretty cool. I mean really, it even holds your attention." Adrien smirked at Felix's scowl. It grew to a grin as he aggressively closed the _six_ windows of Ladyblog that were open.

Felix pulled up the information on the show that night. Mylene's dad would be staring in it. Adrien was excited to see it, but he was also really glad to see Mylene doing well. Most people took being Akumatized in stride, but she was so timid and he worried the Horrificator incident would leave her in an unhealthy state. It seemed his worries were all for naught as she was doing just fine. Perhaps better than before when her excitement for her father's performance and her new relationship with Ivan were taken into account.

"Still planning on attending?" Felix asked lazily.

"Of course. It's interesting and I'll be supporting a friend."

"Is Father still stating he will be there."

"I haven't heard otherwise, but I'm not holding my breath."

With a nod Felix pulled up the times and verified they were going to the early showing. Adrien agreed, but didn't mention that he had thought Felix had refused to go. He smiled, happy to see his brother leaving the house more.

Felix had managed escape a few years ago by attending private school, but he rarely left the house outside of his studies and extra curriculars. It seems this year was doing both of them good.

.

Anthony was super excited. And super early. All his equipment was already set up and ready to go, but the show didn't start for a few more hours.

He had been hired as an amateur photographer at the Mime production. His stills would be professionally combed for suitable content to use in future advertisements. This was part of a new initiative to give youth more experience in the fields they were interested in. He was hoping Marinette would get an amateur seamstress position.

He couldn't test the necessary lighting until closer to evening, but everything seemed ready as he waited under the Eiffel Tower.

.

"You stole Alya's phone?" Bridgette asked with a dropped jaw.

"Uh...I borrowed it," Marinette explained.

"And now what?"

"We track Ladybird down and reshoot the video?" Marinette asked in an unsure voice. She didn't want to let on that she knew who Ladybird was. "We'll go to the _exact _same place and do the _exact_ same thing."

"Even _if_ we got Ladybird to do a reshoot, it'd be totally impossible to replicate it well enough to fool Alya! There's Alya's voice, the other reporters, the person Ladybird had just saved being swung in-"

"Okay! I get it! We can't remake it! So what _can _we do?"

Bridgette and Marinette began pacing their bedroom floor as they thought it over.

"Ladybird!" Marinette cried out, in a 'eureka' pose.

"Huh?"

"Alya was _freaking out_ about being singled out by Ladybird. What if we got her an _interview_!" Marinette was practically vibrating with the idea.

"And you have her phone number," Bridgette pointed out.

"Oh yeah. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. I don't think I'm supposed to have her caller ID show up, but somehow it did."

"Maybe she left it on purpose because she knows you're often close to Akuma attacks."

"I guess that makes sense. I'll call her. Hopefully she'll get the message." Marinette had been planning on jumping up and down on her terrace when Ladybird 'happened' to go by, but calling was a much better idea. Pulling out her phone she dialed the million digit number and was unsurprised when the voicemail answered.

"**It's Ladybird. Tell me you got some good news."** Marinette giggled at her lighthearted yet straight to the point greeting-it was so Bridgette.

"Hello Ladybird, I know you're probably _really_ busy and you weren't exactly thrilled I called you last time I did, but I was hoping you could do me a _huge, ginormous, bigger than I can describe_ favor. I kinda deleted Alya's video of you from this morning and was hoping you could do an interview with her to make up for it. You know, so she doesn't kill me. Anyway, think about it! Thanks!" She locked her phone and collapsed on her chaise with a groan. "Why do these things always happen?"

"So that cosmic beings can laugh at our antics," Bridgette answered with a half scowl. Marinette figured Tikki was quietly picking on her about their dramatics.

Just then her phone rang.

"Hey there, Mylene."

"Do you have Alya's phone?"

"Alya's phone? Ah! There it is! It must have fallen out of her bag, silly girl."

"It's me, I'm here too."

"Oh! Uh hi Alya. You're on speakerphone? Okay, I'll give it to you later on at the show. See ya!" Her head flopped back onto the cushion with another groan as she hung up.

"I'm...um...going to go check on Anthony. He's probably really nervous," Bridgette said as she ducked out of the room.

.

"Yes sir. Understood sir. I'm sure they'll understand sir." Nathalie clicked off her phone to neither Felix's or Adien's surprise.

"Our dad's flaking, isn't he?" Adrien asked with a sigh.

"Let me guess," Felix chimed in, "something came up."

"Yes, but he's reserved the best seats in the house for you boys. Front row."

"As usual, the best money can buy," Adrien sounded less than thrilled, and could tell Felix was thoroughly glad he chose to come. Others may see him as a jerk, but Adrien saw this side of him: willing to give up his own evening to keep his brother from being alone.

That's when the car turned sideways as the Gorilla dodged to avoid Ladybird, who was in combat with an Akuma victim.

'Get out of the car and find a place to hide. I'll cover you." She exclaimed as Felix lowered his window. If Adrien wasn't worried about getting away to transform he might tease Felix about the look he was giving Ladybird just then. Instead he ducked out the other door and ran before the Gorilla or Nathalie could follow him.

.

Adrien was gone. That was good. Now to get himself to safety. Felix slid across the seat and took off with the Gorilla and Nathalie on his heels.

"Where is Adrien?" Nathalie asked.

"Away from the Akuma. That's all that matters," Felix answered.

"We need to get you someplace safe."

"Need I remind you that while Adrien may tolerate you being his keeper I do not."

"I only meant to state the obvious, Felix."

"Perhaps, but I won't be doing the obvious thing." With that he turned on his heel and headed to a space he could watch the fight and be (hopefully) safe. He heard Nathalie sigh and could see her rubbing her face in his mind's eye. She was _so_ tired of him, but he was okay with that.

He made it to the street in time to see Ladybird and Chat Noir holding...air? While watching the blue Akuma walk away? Was something wrong with his vision?

Chat Noir got a running start, but passed right through where they had stopped before. He heard Ladybird explain.

"I wish you'd made it through. When he mimed the _car_ the _bars_ disappeared." She took off before Chat was even on his feet. Felix was a little bummed that he couldn't continue watching the fight, but decided to walk to the show. It would be a nice change of pace from the stuffy car. And when everything was fixed that would be his destination anyway.

.

Anthony didn't expect the bus to arrive by nearly speeding into the pedestrian zone. Nor did he expect Chat Noir to be the only thing keeping it from mowing people over. Good thing he brought and extra camera.

He didn't want to leave his set, because that would be considered irresponsible unless he became in immediate danger, so he climbed onstage and started filming. He hoped to scrub the footage for some good stills later.

It was amazing to think that his cousin was the one wrangling the Mime and trying to reason with him. In a way it was even weirder than his sister battling someone who controlled the weather. They were both so kindhearted, maybe that's what made them such good Miraculous wielders.

Apparently the Mime was Fred, Mylene's father, if Ladybird's words were anything to go off of. The invisible grenades were a little worrisome, but Ladybird was handling it with her shoebox. She looked around and he could see the moment she knew what to do.

"Of course! We have to make him _really_ angry. Blow his fuse!"

"You don't think he's angry enough?"

"Chat Noir, you're good at annoying people. Do your thing" she said with a smirk.

"Hey! That is true..."

She stole a few items to create a projection onto the Tower and Anthony watched as the Mime was forced to hold it, to keep it from falling on himself. It was easy for Ladybird and Chat Noir to take his hat and Akuma after that. Anthony smiled as he continued recording the heroes.

"Your earrings," Chat stage whispered.

"Better get going," she heaved a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, I got a message on my compact, and was hoping to respond to it." She covered her earrings to see how much time she had left and handed her compact to Chat. Anthony couldn't make out the message, but Chat started laughing.

"You should do it. Maybe after you see the show," he gestured to the troupe that was busy comforting each other.

"See you around Chat," she replied with a smile as she zipped off towards the tower.

"So," he spoke up, "what should Ladybird be doing?" Chat turned to him, a bit surprised that they had been eavesdropped on.

"A favor," he smirked. Then he left as well.

Anthony shook his head as he walked over to check all his equipment again. Then he watched everyone file into their seats. Alya was in the front row with seats saved for both Marinette and Bridgette. Adrien walked in and Anthony barely kept himself in check as Alya completely lost all contact with Marinette when he sat beside her. Eventually Felix came in too. He and Adrien had a conversation, presumably about the fact their seats wouldn't be together, then he settled down beside Bridgette. He couldn't help but lift his camera for a picture. There was Felix looking bored, Bridgette looking like a board was stapled to her back, Alya with a look of absolute joy on her face, Marinette practically drooling as she stared at Adrien, and Adrien completely oblivious to it all. They could have been beads on a necklace.

"Hey." Anthony jumped a little at the unexpected voice beside him. He scrunched his eyes together gathering strength for this encounter because he knew _exactly _who that voice belonged to.

"Alix, what are you doing back here?"

"Nice to see you too," she replied sarcastically.

"I'm sure it is," he smirked as she glared. She was great to do verbal combat with.

"Mylene asked me to hang out with her back here, but right now she's wishing her dad luck. Didn't want to be there, and don't want to interrupt..._that_," she indicated the photo still on his camera's screen.

"So here you are?"

"Here I am." He smiled softly at her, not sure where to take the conversation from there, but not wanting it to end just yet. He could picture Jahil laughing at him for not knowing how to act around his sister, but such was life.

"May I?" He held up his camera. He knew it was stupid, an edited picture of Alix was what gave him away to Jahil in the first place, but he couldn't help it. The evening glow made her look even more ethereal than usual.

Yeah...he had it bad.

She grinned and bent into a half bowing half curtsing pose, and he backed up to make sure he included her skates in the shot. The lights of the Eiffel Tower twinkled behind her perfectly and she appeared just as the fairy he pictured her as. Then she stuck her tounge out at him and spun to skate back to Mylene. He counted himself as lucky to get that spunky image as well.

.

Alya wasn't shocked in the least bit when Marinette explained that she and Bridgette accidentally erased her Ladybird video, but it was no big deal, because she had already uploaded it. But when Marinette mentioned a surprise she had to bite.

"Screw up or no screw up, you know I love surprises!"

Alya did as instructed and entered the theatre. It was a bit creepy to be there after hours and if she didn't trust Marinette so much she might think she was walking in on a horror movie. When she saw Ladybird waiting to give her an _exclusive_ interview she was totally glad for _every_ mistake that led to this moment.


	14. Princess Fragrance

_(A/N So as of **right now** [11/7/19] I have up to chapter 16 written, and judging from my reviews some of you will **hate me** for 15 and 16...but I hope in a good way! :D I keep getting asked when Marinette is getting Tikki back, and I must say that you'll have to be a bit patient, because I have a number of episodes/chapters that **need** Ladybird. That being said, I'm also toying with the timeline, and those chapters can surge forward in the timeline and things could happen sooner. Either way, I know what episode will be my cusp point, so please be patient! I'm glad to see you're enjoying these though! :D _

_Let me know what you think and if there are any areas I need to work on!_

_I own nothing._

_Enjoy!)_

**Princess Fragrance**

Bridgette really wished controlling the weather was part of her powers of creation. The rain didn't bother her too much, but Tikki looked absolutely dreadful after the Magician of Misfortune was defeated. She was shivering and barely touched her cookie.

"Tikki, you don't look well."

"I need to go to a doctor."

"But, where am I going to find a doctor for Kwamis?"

"I know a healer, but…"

"But it's not someone I should know?" Tikki seemed to nod, but her shivering was so intense Bridgette couldn't tell for sure. "If I get you close can you get the rest of the way there?"

"Let me warm up in the bakery for a bit, then I'll manage myself. Hopefully Ladybird won't be needed in the meantime."

"Only if you're sure you'll be alright, Tikki. You don't look like I should leave you alone."

"Everything will be fine, Bridgette." She tried to smile, but once again her shivers prevented her from achieving her goal.

Bridgette closed her bag and ran for the bakery, listening to Tikki's poor sneezes on the way.

.

Tikki's plan was a bit sketchy. She figured Marinette should be the one to take her to Master Fu, but she also knew that Marinette had given up the Miraculous and thus shouldn't be introduced to the Guardian. But she also knew Plagg was _somewhere_ in Dupont and if Marinette wasn't a valid choice to take her to be healed, Plagg would convince his holder to take her. Either way she _needed_ to get into Marinette's bag. That just meant leaving the warmth of the oven she was currently resting on…

.

Marinette's felt her eyes go wide as she opened her purse for a pencil and found a magical hitchhiker inside. She had to bite her tongue to keep from asking what the little sprite was doing there, and contented herself with writing down her question and placing it back in her purse.

"_heal"_ was the only word of response she got.

Pushing kwamis and heroes from her mind, Marinette focused on the lesson. More specifically she focused on Rose's perfume being exploded in a controlled dome by Ms. Mendeleiev. She felt bad Rose was being sent to the principal's office, the science teacher was a real stickler for rules. She felt worse that they had to endure _another_ lab safety quiz.

She eventually had the chance to ask to use the restroom and used the opportunity to quiz Tikki, only to find the Kwami barely able to speak.

"What's going on Tikki?"

"I need to see a healer. I thought you could take me. Please?"

"Are you alright? And why me? What's going on with Bridgette?"

"She's not good at producing believable lies…" Tikki trailed off and ended with a sneeze. Marinette didn't quite believe her because she wasn't known for being a smooth liar either.

"As soon as school is over we'll get you taken care of. Is there anything you need in the meantime?"

"I'll be alright," she smiled through shivers.

.

Adrien was running as fast as he could, but after transforming on the other side of Paris he had no hope of being on time to class. Seeing Nino waiting for him in front of the school he realized he also had no hope of being late to class because he had missed it altogether.

"Dude!" Nino greeted in an exasperated tone as Adrien tried to catch his breath.

"Sorry man. I can't believe I missed class."

"Yeah, well, we had quite the demonstration today."

From the corner of his eye Adrien noticed Marinette making her way down the steps. She seemed to be checking something in her purse and didn't notice the bag she was about to...trip on.

Quickly stepping back and in front of her he caught her upper arms to keep her from completely faceplanting.

"You okay? Nothing Broken?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine," she answered as she regained her footing.

Grabbing his bag he left on the sidewalk, he made his way into school. He still didn't feel right about having such casual conversation with her after he had been the reason she died-or nearly died-or died and came back. Whatever label his brother put on it, it didn't change what happened.

Sitting through the Mime performance had been torture knowing she was _right there_ and that if she knew who he was she would hate him. Adrien loathed to think of how such a sweet girl could hate him, but he knew it was possible. She couldn't stand Chloe, and was prepared to never give him the time of day when she thought he was like his childhood friend. But her being so friendly was almost worse, because he knew he didn't deserve it.

.

Tikki knew her plan was sketchy, but she hadn't factored in any of these possibilities. When Marinette had tripped down the steps Tikki was thrown from her bag and ended up right in front of Chloe. Quickly acting like a stuffed toy, Tikki was horrified to hear the snobby teen declare she needed a toy to gain Prince Ali's attention and that Tikki would be that toy.

She just wanted to go to the healer, was that so much to ask?

.

Felix was an observant person. He couldn't help it, he just noticed seemingly irrelevant details. And today he observed Bridgette not being herself. She seemed anxious and her fidgeting was very distracting. She kept softly gripping her bag and then slumping her shoulders. Then, a few minutes later repeating the process. After the afternoon classes he cornered her under the pretense of tutoring.

"What are we reading this week?" she asked brightly.

"You seem to be mostly up to our current reading level. How have your scores been?"

"Better. Not what I'm used to, but passing comfortably. Even making up for some of my earlier grades."

"Have you told anyone yet." Her smile faded and she broke eye contact. That was all the answer he needed. "I can't force you to, but you really should."

"But I'm doing so much better!" she whined. He _tried_ to control the smile that came to his face as he watched her antics, but he knew she saw it. Luckily she didn't comment, just looked very smug.

"I'm done teaching you French," he stated as he repaired his icy demeanor. Her jaw dropped and a look of absolute horror came to her face. He had planned to leave her in suspense for a few moments, but the threat of tears made him continue sooner. "It's time you start learning English."

For a moment, her face was blank as she processed what he had said. Then, her expression morphed into utter jubilation as she jumped up and down beside him, tugging on his arm.

"Do calm down."

Instead she spun in a circle with her arms in the air.

"Thank you, Felix! I really needed something like this today." She turned and started skipping off. He was glad to offer her a bit of relief on a bad day, but he never did get to ask what was wrong.

"Warming up to the new girl, Agreste?" spoke a most unwelcome voice.

"Not as much as you, James." You could _hear_ him roll his eyes as he spoke.

"Come on, she's a pretty girl."

"And she's made her intent towards you crystal clear."

"She's done the same to you," James pointed out, much to Felix's annoyance.

"What do you need James?"

"A favor," he cringed. Felix smirked.

"What kind of favor?"

"Look, you know the Ladyblog girl, right?" Felix only narrowed his eyes. James sighed. "I want to set up a meet with her."

"Why?" James scratched the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable.

"Well...she has the Ladyblog, and I started a forum...the Chatter Noir." Felix kept his face schooled and only lifted an eyebrow, when internally he was dying of laughter.

"The Chatter Noir?"

"Yeah! I thought it'd be clever. Chat/chat. Anyway, I haven't set it to the public domain yet. I wanted to ask for some graphic advice and see if she wanted to pair the sites."

"And you need me because?"

"Like I said, it's not public. And if I message her someone else might take the idea… So I want to meet her in person." Felix nodded his understanding and left without offering an answer, his mind already tracking her down and playing out possible conversations.

.

"Anthony, stop complaining."

"But I should be at the _hospital_. There will be so many photo opportunities there today!" he told Jalil.

"And it's okay for other people to take those opportunities."

"But will they be taking photos now to note the change in atmosphere after the prince gets there? Are they even going to remember to focus on the kids, or will _all_ the photos be of the people attending the fundraiser? What if-"

"Chill! Everything will be fine. You are _not_ the only one who thinks of these things, and you need _some time_ to be a kid. We're only sixteen!" After Jalil's outburst the two boys looked at each other and dissolved into hysterical laughter. Usually it was Anthony giving Jalil that exact same speech.

"Alright, alright. Let's find something to do...maybe…"

"Movie. We'll never fit a marathon in with all the photo shoots you've been getting _and_ my internship, so we're doing the original today and the sequel sometime before Mechamonkey vs. Cybersharks 3 comes out."

"I think Marinette's class is _already_ planning a group trip to the theater for it."

"Yeah," Jalil scoffed. "Alix was over the moon when they released the trailer."

"She was?" Anthony asked with what he hoped was a normal amount of interest. Blatantly laughing at his friend's crush, Jalil confirmed Alix's interest and a plan started to form in Anthony's mind.

.

She tried politely asking, but that was no good. Next step was a bit of deception. Somehow, Marinette wasn't surprised to hear Chloe usually ordered sushi for delivery. And of course pizza was 'peasant food.'

She was surprised, however, when she saw Prince Ali holding Tikki. _Now how was she going to get her?_ Even more surprising was when everyone chorused 'at your service Princess Fragrance' in sing-song voices.

Marinette knew they needed Ladybird, but half of Ladybird was in Prince Ali's hands while the other half was who-knows-where! This was a disaster!

Thinking fast, Marinette triggered the confetti bursts and allowed those unaffected by the Akuma to escape. She followed and vacuumed the perfume the Akuma was using to overpower her victims.

Sadly, Marinette's weapon was only good while it was plugged in.

Also, the others assumed she was also a villain and ran from her.

Was there anyway to get Tikki?

.

"Pee-ew! Can we get a little fresh air in here?" Chat Noir entered the scene with a quip and immediately began defending the prince, his chaperone, and Chloe. When he threw her into the kitchen another girl burst out trying to get away from her.

"Emergency evacuation. Everybody down."

"It's much too dangerous for the prince," answered the chaperone.

Grabbing a bowl Chat placed it on the prince's head like a helmet and the three slid down his baton.

"You next miss…?" She took a step back and seemed hesitant, but he couldn't see her face. "I won't let you fall," he assured her.

"I trust you… But you need to listen," she took a step forward with a lot more purpose. "I know you might not believe me, but I'm Ladybug." He gasped, shocked by the revelation, but before he could ask her name, she continued. "Ladybird can't transform, because Prince Ali has Tikki. I...um...saw, her. When Chloe drove by! And have been trying to get her back, but could barely get in the building."

Princess Fragrance chose then to break out of the kitchen.

"Nothing will keep me from my prince!"

"I'll hold her off! You get the prince!"

Chat wanted to say no. He wanted to grab her and jump from the window together. He wanted to know her name, so he could tell her how much he loved her. But she had quit because he had been overwhelmed by an Akuma, and he was hard pressed to trust her and not let it happen again.

He jumped from the window and led the trio waiting for him to a car. No one opened Chloe's door for her, and she waited. They left her on the curb

Seeing the ladybug kwami in the Prince's shirt he made up an innocent lie.

"I think she's actually after that toy you have," he pointed to the creature he was referring to. "She said something about never seeing such a thing before. Perhaps I could lead her away with it."

"Of course," Prince Ali said as he handed the kwami to Chat.

"I'll be back for you," he promised as he ducked out of the moving car's roof window.

"Tikki, right?" She shivered. "Ladybug told me Prince Ali got ahold of you. What happened?"

"I need a healer," she spoke weakly.

Finding a safe spot Chat transformed.

"Sugar cube? Sugar cube! What happened?" Adrien had never seen Plagg so worked up-especially not right after being transformed.

"Sick," she replied before sneezing and then entering a coughing fit. "Healer," she then wheezed.

"Let's go kid," Plagg said as he zoomed off. It was all Adrien could do to keep up as Plagg led him down a bunch of streets and turns. Eventually they stopped at a Chinese massage studio.

"You know where we are, Plagg?"

"Sure. Yeah. We make sure we know a healer when we're activated. Let's _go_."

Adrien made his way in and offered the tiny red being to the old man in the shop.

"What type of cat did you say?" he asked after Adrien had been waiting anxiously for what felt like ages.

"What-cat? Right! A rare hairless flying species from the Kingdom of Atchoo." Adrien stopped himself before something even more ridiculous could spill from his mouth. He could feel Plagg laughing against him from inside his jacket pocket.

"Hmm...unusual."

"Yes...it is…" It was all Adrien could do to keep from hitting his forehead.

"We are finished," the old man said with one more ring of his gong. "Your cat's health has been restored."

Adrien thanked him repeatedly, but knew he needed to leave quickly. There was an akuma on the loose.

Transforming he ran the rooftops with Tikki flying beside him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Excellent!" she enthused and did a flip in the air to prove her point. He smiled at her antics.

"How did you and Ladybird get separated?"

"I wanted Ladybug to be the one to take me to the healer…" she said as she sank in the air a bit.

"She was really worried about you. She was in the hotel trying to get you back when she told me where you were." Tikki gave a small smile, knowing her previous wielder was worried over her. "Can you get to Ladybird now?"

"Of course!" she said just before zipping away.

Now to find Princess Fragrance.

.

Bridgette heard the Akuma alert just after getting home and looked _all through_ the bakery for her kwami but couldn't find her. She wanted to go _help_ in the worst kind of way, but she needed to stay put for when Tikki came back to her.

She was pacing the terrace in tears when a little red blur crashed into her face.

"Tikki!"

"Oh Bridgette! Are you crying?"

"I was so worried about you all day! And then I got home and you weren't here! And then there was an attack and I didn't know what to do!" She was barely keeping herself from sobbing as she watched Tikki tear up and then school her features.

"Well right now you can go purify an Akuma!" she cheered as she did a small flip in the air. Bridgette laughed through her own tears and called up her transformation.

.

Anthony watched on the Ladyblog as Ladybird and Chat Noir set off a spectacular firework display. When Princess Fragrance's padlock plan failed she tried to cover all of Paris with her mind control perfume. But the pair split up as Ladybird confronted the Akuma and Chat Noir set off the display on the Seine.

"Right, spoiler. Ladybird set everything back to normal. Can we finish the movie now?" Jalil asked as Anthony laughed at how nonchalant Paris had become when handling superheroes and supervillains.


	15. Animan

_(I am releasing these two chapters (15&16) together, because they go together. I was hoping to get more written recently, but November is truly set in. Every weekend-starting last week-is booked from now until New Year's. I'm giving you warning that I will be taking a hiatus until then, simply because I **have not** had the time to write and don't anticipate to have that time again until January. Hopefully, I'll be updating again around 1/7/20, but I will not offer such a promise until I can actually deliver on it._

_I hope you enjoy these two! _

_And Happy Holidays in the meantime!_

_As always, I own nothing.)_

Animan

Adrien found the perfect opportunity to talk to Marinette again. Not that he ever stopped talking to her...but he knew how to make it up to her. Whether she knew it or not…

"FYI," he told Nino, "Marinette's never gonna fall in love with a statue."

"Shh!," Nino hushed louder than Adrien had even been talking as he pulled him back behind some tables. "You know I'm no good with the ladies, especially this one all of a sudden! I mean, dude! Do I go up to her and crack a joke? Shoot her a compliment? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious? Scope out Andre's?"

"Nino, you're way overthinking this. Invite her to the zoo? You serious?"

"Uhh...well, they have this really cool new exhibit there."

"Listen," Adrien put his arm over his buddy's shoulder, "just be yourself, man"

"That's easy for you to say! Mr. Front-of-the-Cover-Teen-Model-Weekly. I'm not that cool!"

"You're cool too, dude! Trust me! Or you wouldn't be my best bud," he added as a tease. "Invite her to the zoo. She'll say yes, I promise."

It took a bit more convincing, but this was going to go perfect! Nino was head over heels for her and she deserved every type of happiness. The trip to the zoo just needed to go smoothly, and then they would all meet up for ice-cream at Andre's. Though, judging by how little of the talking Nino did when they invited her, that may be a bit difficult, but Adrien wasn't about to give up.

.

Anthony walked up just in time to hear Alya frantically talking to Marinette. The only words he caught were 'has just asked you out, right?' That's when we cue Marinette freaking out about not wearing her lucky socks. Alya comforted her, while Anthony came up beside the pair.

"And who, might I ask, invited my sister on a date?"

"Eep!" she cried out as she jumped back from Alya.

"Adrien," Alya replied smugly.

"I'll bring popcorn," he teased as he walked away and Marinette screamed 'no.'

.

"Hey, Felix."

"Adrien. How was your day?" he asked as his brother slid into the car.

"Great! I set up two of my friends on a date," he stated with a smirk on his face. Felix knew Adrien's heart had to be in the right place, but he was also well aware of both of their lack of social skills. This could go wrong in many ways.

"Who was that?"

"You remember Nino?"

"He tried to throw you a birthday party." Adrien nodded.

"And Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Felix had to clear his throat to keep from coughing on air. Lack of social skills and recognising interpretable cues. Well, that and Adrien could be a bit dense sometimes.

"Why?" he finally rasped out.

"Nino is totally crazy about her. Like he can't function around her crazy. And Marinette…" He got a soft smile on his face as he continued, "Marinette deserves the world. So I thought this was a small thing I could do for her."

Felix really wanted to smack himself on the forehead, or perhaps smack Adrien's forehead. He recalled comparing his brother to an anime character and thought that the irony of this situation definitely applied to that comparison. He got the details from a very excited Adrien and then decided to make a trip he hoped he wouldn't regret. Both brothers snuck out at the same time, so Gorilla couldn't track them both down.

The bell rang over the door as the smell of freshly baked bread swept over him. He smirked as he picked up a peach tart and headed to the counter.

"Felix, son! How are you?" Tom greeted warmly. Felix ignored the pang in his heart as he tried to imagine Gabriel being that warm.

"I'm well, thank you. I was hoping to grab a tart and a coffee?"

"Of course, my boy!" Tom slipped in an extra tart as he sealed the bag.

"I was expecting to see Bridgette here. Is she off today?"

"Actually we gave her some time off until she got her grades back up," Tom said as he scratched the back of his head nervously. He obviously didn't wish to violate Bridgette's privacy by sharing such a detail.

"Oh." Felix supposed he should have expected that, but now he didn't know how to get ahold of her.

"I can head up and tell her you're looking for her," Tom smiled helpfully.

"No! That'snotnecessary!" he panicked, thinking of exactly how she would take that statement. Seeing Tom's smile he knew he had taken it the same way. Clearing his throat he tried to think of a way to clarify when Anthony walked in.

"Agreste. What's going on?" He held up his coffee in response as Tom made his way back into the kitchen. "Cool. I'm assuming you don't want to be in our new ad?"

"What?"

Anthony held up his camera. "I'm working on a new ad campaign. I know your dad keeps a pretty tight cap on what you and your brother can appear in, so I wanted to let you know I'm about to take pictures. But I'll make sure you're not in any of them, so don't worry."

"Oh. Thank you." Felix wasn't used to people remembering and applying such details. It made him glad he knew this family once more. "I was actually hoping to talk to Bridgette or you."

"About?"

"Idiot brother." Anthony paled.

"I'll get Bridgette."

.

They were walking side by side. She wished it was hand in hand, but she would take what she got. Bridgette was glad for the time they spent together during tutoring, but they were focused on school work and language building then. Right now, they could talk about anything.

He had already explained why he sought her out, and she countered with the fact she could only support Marinette after she found out on her own. It would be cruel to pull that rug out from under her cousin, and could easily seem like jealousy or some equally terrible reasoning for saying her date wasn't what she thought.

Bridgette and Felix joined an elderly chinese man near the elephants where they had a good view of Marinette by the hippo statues and Alya behind the trees. At the critical eye the elderly man gave them Bridgette offered a small bow to show her respect and then the two found seats.

"What was that about?" Felix whisper as he leaned towards her. She tried not to melt and place her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, umm. He was looking at us in an odd way. Or maybe just me, I don't know. Almost like he recognised me? I'm pretty sure we haven't met, but I wanted to be respectful in case I simply don't remember him. I ran into that a lot in China, mainly extended family. People who last saw me when I was 'this big,'" she placed her hand a few feet from the ground as she mocked them. "But I have no idea who they are." She shrugged.

"Better to be safe than sorry. Being respectful even when clueless."

She elbowed his ribs. "I'm not clueless."

"No, you're not. But you act like you are sometimes. You enjoy having a lighthearted nature. That makes your demeanor very turbulent."

Bridgette scowled. "Gee. Tell me what you really think," she bit out sarcastically.

"I think," he responded, ignoring her sarcasm, "that you are extremely intelligent. I think you want to use that intelligence to help people. I think that you want to climb your way to a position of power so that you can make the world a better place for everyone under your influence. And, I think you'll accomplish just that."

"Felix!" She threw her arms around him and he stiffened. "That's the kindest thing you've ever said to me!"

"I also think that at times you don't think before acting. And when you don't think you're insufferably air-headed." She leaned away from him and stuck out her tongue, not missing how he smirked at her childish display.

"Oh! Look over there!" She gestured to a bench across from Marinette and the hippo statues. Felix held the bridge of his nose and groaned. "So he really set up a date between his best friend and the girl who is crushing on him," she giggled. "The dramatic irony is worthy of Shakespear!"

Glancing over Felix couldn't help but ask, "Did you read the French Midsummer's Night Dream?"

"Yes sir," she sighed with a roll of her eyes. "I am all caught up with everything you have assigned me."

"I'd expect nothing less," he replied with a soft smile.

"I wish we could hear them," she lamented.

"The facial expressions are plenty entertainment for me." It was true, Adrien looked pretty angry about whatever Nino just said. "Would you like a tart?" he asked as he opened the bag he had taken from her uncle's bakery.

"Peach?" she asked, laughing lightly as she remembered their food fight in the kitchen.

"Of course," he said as he held eye contact and bit into his tart. She laughed at the parallel and wished she could go back to that day. This day was enjoyable too, but it existed with the looming threat of Marinette's heartbreak. She felt her face heat as she looked away.

"Ooo! What did Nino just say?" He had just spoken a bit louder than they had been, and Bridgette was grateful for the distraction from the boy at her side.

"It's youuuuuuuuur best friend Alya!" he exclaimed. She sat forward studying each face, Adrien and Alya looked horrified, while Marinette looked very excited.

"The plot thickens," smirked Felix as he watched Alya nearly pull out her own hair.

Before Bridgette could reply they were distracted by two of Adrien and Marinette's classmates running by screaming.

.

Adrien watched Nino run from the stampede as Marinette hurdled the same fence he was hiding along. So much for getting them together. If she was so excited about Nino having a crush on Alya she must not see him that way. That was going to break the poor dude's heart. He crouched as low as he could and called forth his transformation. Sticking to the wall behind the bushes he came up behind the girl.

"Are you alright?"

"Chat Noir!" her face lit up as she smiled at him. He took a step back as he clearly saw her smile after Dark Cupid in his mind's eye.

"I won't hurt you," he whispered. She got a confused look, but he needed to reassure her of that. Or maybe he needed to reassure himself of that. Either way he offered her his hand and she took it without hesitation. As he vaulted her to the roof across the walkway he couldn't help but wonder why she didn't hate him. But that was a question for another day. "Stay safe, Princess," he rasped as he leapt down to follow the stampede.

"You lost, kiddo. What do you think of panthers now?" a purple eyed black panther growled at Kim.

"That panthers are the best?" Kim stammered out.

"Come on," Chat smirked as he jumped between the two, "let's not fight. We're like brothers." The akuma growled at his comment. "Well, at least distant cousins."

"But I'm higher on the food chain."

.

It was a stampede! How difficult could it be to lose someone? Bridgette was still trying to find a way to ditch Felix so she could go transform, but he would not let go of her arm. Under any other circumstances she'd be on cloud nine. Tikki was patting her through the purse and she didn't know what to do.

"Felix, I think we can hide here," she pointed out a set of bathrooms, hoping he'd go in the men's so she could flee to the women's. Instead he nodded and climbed to the roof before offering her a hand up. She just barely suppressed her groan.

The roof was slanted and they sat back to back on the cusp point in order to keep their balance.

"Sorry, Bridgette."

"About what?" she replied nervously as she let Tikki out at her knees and silently pleaded for a plan to materialize.

"You wouldn't be in danger if I hadn't asked you to the zoo."

"Oh, pish. We're fine. And I'm glad you gave me warning about Marinette. I want to be there for her if she gets hurt." She and Tikki continued making faces at each other trying to figure out how to get away. Perking up she added, "I would like to make sure she's alright though." Bridgette threw as much whining concern into her voice as she could while still sounding sincere. Sure, she was worried for her cousin, but really Ladybird would be more helpful.

"Yeah, I'm worried about Adrien too. But hopefully they both found good places to hide out." Her shoulders slumped when he didn't take the bait. Absently she began twirling her earrings, a habit she had formed long ago when she first had her ears pierced. Tikki's eyes widened at the motion and then she pursed her lips. Bridgette caught on immediately.

"You think it will be okay?" she asked aloud, knowing Felix would think she meant the two missing teens. Tikki shifted her weight in the air a few times and then nodded.

"I have to have faith that it will, or I'll go insane."

"Lucky to have you," she said to both of them.

"Hmm. I'm sure he doesn't always think that." Tikki sunk in the air too.

Bridgette removed her earrings and offered them to her kwami, heart pounding as she wondered when she'd see her again.

.

Marinette saw Chat Noir running from another stampede and was wondering where Bridgette was when a familiar red blur ran into her.

"Tikki! How are you!" She nearly had tears in her eyes as she held the Kwami, remembering the poor state she had been in not too long ago.

"I'm doing much better," she giggled as she alighted on Marinette's knee with a smile.

"I'm glad to see you, but shouldn't you be with Bridgette?"

"She was with a civilian when the akuma hit, and he won't let her out of his sight."

"Oh no." Marinette bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to do, but Tikki was already ahead of her.

"I know you were done being Ladybug," Marinette was about to say something, she wasn't quite sure what-maybe apologize? But Tikki kept going before she could. "I understand the reasons. Really, I do. You understand the responsibility better than most. I just wish you knew how strong you were." The last part was said mainly to herself. "But for today, can you take up the mantel again? Just while Bridgette is indisposed?" Tikki offered her the earrings. Marinette only hesitated a moment before putting them on and calling for her transformation.

She started running after Chat Noir from the rooftops, but saw Alya and Nino running in the crossfire. Swinging down she scooped them up and dropped them in an enclosure.

"Stay put and you'll be safe," she stated before swinging the door shut and following the stampede again.

.

"No way!" cried Alya. "That was Ladybug! The original Ladybug!"

"And now we're locked in here," Nino deadpanned. "So, uh, what's up?"

Turning Alya cringed as she remembered the conversation from earlier.

"I know Marinette said she'd set up a date between us, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen…"

"That's cool. I may have been a little mixed up when I said that anyway. Wait! How did you know I said that? She wouldn't have called you in the middle of an akuma attack!"

"Uh...well I do run the Ladyblog…?"

"But you're already here," he said pointedly.

"Maybe I was helping a friend in an area she's not good at," she replied haughtily.

"Sounds like Adrien. He was the bug in my ear as I tried to tell Marinette I like her." Nino seized up as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Alya's jaw dropped open as she began laughing wickedly.

"OMG! That's exactly what I was doing! Only we were waiting for-" she cut herself off just before saying the name, but the damage was already done.

"Adrien. That's why we were hanging out at the hippos so long. We were waiting for Adrien." Nino smacked himself on the forehead as he realized what had been going on.

"You can not tell him that!" Nino just waved Alya off.

"I won't. I feel a bit silly now though."

"You can't tell her I said it either!"

"Chillax, Alya. You didn't even say it."

"Yeah, but…" She shook her head. "I guess we should all feel a little silly after this fiasco."

They started laughing, and as the akuma attack dragged out they found a lot of things to talk about. Alya was more than a little surprised to find that she really enjoyed spending time one-on-one with Nino.

.

"Chat Noir, are you stuck in a tree?" Chat heard a familiar voice say as he was dodging giraffe attacks. "There are too many of them. We wouldn't be able to capture them all."

It took a moment for Chat to stop gaping at his partner. "Well, what should we do then?"

"I haven't gotten a look at the Akuma victim yet, but if I can capture the akuma everything should go back to normal."

"He's a panther. The only thing he's wearing is a bracelet, so the akuma's got to be there."

"Great," she said as they raced back to where Chat had pinned the panther down.

"It's good to see you, milady," Chat spoke affectionately as they ran side by side.

"Just for today. Ladybird was otherwise occupied and couldn't come, so Tikki found me."

"Well, I'm still glad she did." They arrived at the exhibit Chat had locked the akuma in, but found nothing there. "That's weird." Going in he looked around, but there was no sign of the victim.

"I guess he got out?"

"Yeah, but there's no visible damage to the cage."

"So, how did he get away?"

"I don't know, but we better find Kim...I mean that boy, before he does."

It was exhilarating to speed through Paris with the girl he loved once more. Chat wanted to take time to truly appreciate it, but knew that they didn't have that luxury at the moment.

"Over there!" he said as he pointed out the panther advancing on Kim on a nearby bridge.

"It's down to just the two of us, kiddo," he growled as Kim tripped. "And then there was one."

Ladybug lassoed him just before Kim was toast. "You're not getting away this time!" she cried as she reeled him in.

Chat dropped down beside Kim. "Quick, go and hide in the first building you come to." He placed a tracker on Kim's back as he ran away.

"You'll never get me," the panther said before purple bubbles enclosed him and he turned into an eagle, flying away.

"Now we know how he got away earlier," Chat said.

"Where's Kim?" He showed her the location on his baton. "Good job, Kitty," she said as she scratched his chin. She ran off and called over her shoulder, "I really missed this!"

"Me too…" Chat had a lot to think about in a short amount of time, but a plan was already forming in his mind. "I feel like we have a lot to talk about," he called after her. "So, eh, Ladybug? What would you say if you and I met up tonight for a little dinner, roof-top style?"

"For dinner? As superheroes?"

"Well, uh...yeah! That's right!"

"I'd love to Chat, but I have to return my Miraculous as soon as the akuma is defeated."

"Well, if you decide to keep ahold of Tikki for a night you could visit with her too."

"That's very thoughtful, but I already have plans with some friends!"

"Well, if your plans end early come and see me."

"We'll see. But I really do think Tikki needs to get back t-" she bit down on her lip and look at him questioningly.

"No, we have not revealed identities, even after she and Tikki were separated earlier this week."

Ladybug nodded at him as they perched atop the Dupain-Cheng patisserie to plan their next move.

.

When Anthony heard Kim say the akuma wanted to race him, it was all he could do to keep from laughing. His parents were being super comforting, but he was anxious for Bridgette to show up. He knew she had attempted to avoid them in the past, namely during the Evillustrator attack, because she was worried they might recognise her. What would she do this time? His parents were right there and she'd have to face them.

At least, that's what he thought until Ladybug walked in and almost called their mom 'Mom.' That would have been tragic.

"Oh! But you're...you're. You're Ladybug!" The look of panic on Marinette's face was priceless and Anthony was so glad he had caught it on video. He still had one of his cameras recording from the front desk, and it should be angled correctly to have caught that.

"Yeah," she sighed, "exactly. I'm just filling in for the day." Chat had an odd look on his face, obviously disappointed she wasn't staying, but also confused by her current behavior.

Anthony helped herd everyone to the apartment and saw Chat Noir studying a picture of their family as Ladybug borrowed Kim's sweat band. After being given directions to lock all the doors, Marinette nearly called their dad 'Dad.' She wasn't great at keeping up appearances, and glared at Anthony when he stifled a chuckler. When the superheroes left Anthony went up to Marinette and Bridgette's terrace to watch the street below.

He got some neat shots of the eagle transforming, but missed the chase inside the building and then they ended up in a bus. No good shots there. What was really great was the shots he got of Chat riding the T-Rex and Ladybug jumping into its mouth, weilding a car jack. It was also sweet the hug Chat gave her to assure himself that she was alright.

.

They were back on the bench. It took most of the afternoon, but they were finally back on solid ground instead of the roof of the bathrooms. Felix was relieved, it had been uncomfortable up there, but he was also a bit disappointed. As much as he loathed to admit it, time with Bridgette away from school had been very nice. She even convinced him to exchange numbers with her. He wished he could tell her how much he appreciated her presence without leading her on…

"Well, I guess I'm off to check what damage was wrecked on Marinette."

"And I've got to make sure Adrien is alright."

"Maybe...we could do this again? Without the akuma?" she smiled. He scowled, thinking over his words carefully.

"I'm glad to have you as a friend, Bridgette." Her smile was a beam of moonlight on a cloudless night.

"That's a start," she stated before skipping off. He sighed and shook his head, but a small smile was on his face.


	16. Glaciator

**Glaciator**

_(A/N As stated from the very beginning, what is a timeline? Obviously a very Marinette/Adrien[Chat Noir] centric chapter.)_

Marinette experienced the familiar energy drop as she detransformed atop her bed. It had taken a lot to jump into Animan's mouth, but that was better than Chat Noir ending up cat food.

"That was wonderful!" Tikki enthused as the two collapsed on the chaise.

"It was nice seeing Chat again. I'm surprised I don't see you more Tikki. You and Bridgette moved in after all." Tikki shifted uncomfortably in the air.

"Well, there are things about the miraculous you don't know yet. You would have learned as we grew together...but I umm, have to stay out of sight. Unless…"

"If you can't tell me, I understand Tikki." The sprite nodded and nuzzled Marinette's cheek as the phone started ringing. "Oh no! I forgot all about Alya! She's gonna be so mad at me."

"Imagine if she knew you were the Ladybug who shut her up in a cage with Nino all afternoon."

"Yeah, then she'd actually kill me. Especially since I told him I'd set up a date between the two," Marinette snorted with laughter as Tikki gasped, scandalized. "Guess I'll take mad. Huh?

"Listen Alya," Marinette started without preamble. "I'm sorry about earlier. I should never have told Nino I'd set up a date with you. I just wasn't thinking. But, I'll explain everything to him at Andre's, so don't worry. Promise! Do you forgive me?" she asked rounding the corner to the patisserie, only to find Alya in front of her. As they laughed Nino exited with a bag of goodies in hand.

"Thanks Nino," Alya said as he handed her a cookie.

"Do you want one, Marinette?" he offered.

"Uh." Marinette looked uneasily at Alya, preparing to break Nino's heart.

"Actually," Alya interrupted, "Ladybug-the original Ladybug-locked us up together in the same cage all afternoon."

"It turns out we have tons in common," Nino finished for her. "You know Marinette, the girl I've got a crush on…"

"Oh, yeah!" Marinette cringed.

"Actually, it was you." Marinette's jaw dropped. "Or, that's what I thought. But, after chilling with Alya that whole time…"

"Yeah, well, we don't have to give her all the deets, do we?"

"Oh yeah, my bad."

"The funniest part of it was that Nino was being totally coached by Adrien at the zoo."

"Adrien was there?" Marinette freaked out a little. She felt Tikki pat her through her purse and missed her constant presence and support.

"Yep, LOL. Huh?"

"He's still planning on coming to Andre's later too. Assuming his dad doesn't find out he snuck out…" Nino said. Marinette trusted Alya, but she also knew it was entirely possible that an accident had occurred and Nino now knew of her crush. Nino was trustworthy, sure, but he was also Adrien's best friend.

Blocking the thoughts from her mind, she excused herself to grab a few things and eat dinner. She told them she'd meet them across the street where they were supposed to find Ivan and Mylene.

"Alright Tikki, how do you feel?" she asked after they were alone and Tikki had time to finish her two cookies.

"I'm fine Marinette."

"Do you want me to leave you in Bridgette's things, or do you want to go find her?"

"Don't you want to see Chat later?"

"I do, but I already have a commitment with Alya and the others."

"And Adrien," Tikki added sticking out her tongue.

"And Adrien," Marinette giggled. "Besides," she added as she sobered a bit, "it was so hard to leave the first time, I feel like I would be hurting us both even more by going tonight."

"I understand. A clean break." Marinette nodded.

"If I stay up late, can you visit with me after Bridgette falls asleep?"

"Maybe… I can try, but it might not work."

"Well, I won't tell you goodbye. Just until we meet again." Marinette smiled and handed the earrings over to Tikki.

.

Tikki wished so bad to explain the rules of the Miraculous to Marinette. If Bridgette told her to stay out of sight she was compelled to do just that. But Marinette was not a Miraculous holder anymore, and she hadn't even explained what power Bridgette held over her when wearing her earrings.

.

Adrien made sure to make his way back to the zoo before he detransformed. As he was backtracking and looking for Nino, he was surprised to find his brother sitting on a bench with a lopsided grin on his face.

"Careful Felix, I think you have sunstroke or something. You seem to be...smiling!" He held his heart and placed mock fear in his voice like he was worried over his brother's health.

"Ha ha," Felix replied, returning to his usual detached countenance. "What fool's errand have you been running for the entire length of an akuma attack?"

Adrien paled as he quickly thought of an excuse. "Imagining the perfect date." Popped out of his mouth before he could think of a valid excuse. True, he had already planned _exactly_ the rooftop he would meet Ladybug on, as well as how many roses would litter the ground and how many candles it would take…

"Wooing Marinette?"

"What?! No! I was helping Nino with that actually." Felix rolled his eyes. "Marinette is just a friend…" Adrien refused to analyze why he felt so defensive about the subject.

"Is Marinette alright?"

"I haven't seen her since the attack started. But I did see Chat Noir take her to a nearby roof, so she should be fine."

"Right," Felix replied curtly through pursed lips and a scowl.

"What? Are _you_ going to woo her?"

"You're joking right?"

"If I had to guess," Adrien started as he led the two out of the zoo, "you're unwillingly interested in wooing her cousin." Felix's look of utter horror was far too amusing. The fact he didn't reply was the last nail in the coffin.

"Oh look," Felix ground out as they arrived at the park, "our shadow." Adrien texted Nino as he entered the backseat. He and Felix were each sent to their rooms separately for sneaking out. Adrien had no intentions of staying put though; or rather, Chat Noir didn't.

He couldn't help but remember Plagg's words that he was 'in a hurry to get stood up' and she never said she was coming.

.

"Tikki!" Bridgette enthused as she watched her Kwami sleep on top of her pillow. She was so glad to see her, but was careful to let her sleep as she placed the earrings back on her ears. She wanted to ask how the sprite's afternoon was with Ladybug, but that conversation could wait.

.

Anthony was enjoying dinner with his family. Bridgette had seamlessly joined them and they were all laughing as they talked. Marinette cleared the dishes as Mom gushed over how good everything tasted.

"And as dessert…Ta-dah!" Dad chimed as he placed his tropical cake in the middle of the table.

"Wow! Oh! No thanks, Dad," said Marinette as he and Bridgette were already picking on each other about what slice they would want.

"But, isn't this your favorite?"

"And it still is, Dad! But I told you I was going out with friends. We're gonna get ice cream at Andre's."

"Oh! Sweethearts ice cream!" his parents cooed together.

"That was where your father asked me-"

"To marry him." Anthony cut in. Bridgette was the only one a little surprised.

"He hid the ring in a scoop of vanilla ice cream!"

"And you almost swallowed it, too!" Marinette finished.

"They say that couples that eat ice cream at Andre's will stay in love forever."

"I didn't know that," Bridgette stated. "But it is really good ice cream…"

"By the way Marinette, who are you getting ice cream with?" asked Dad.

"Oops! Gotta go! Don't wanna be late. See you later guys!" she said as she ran out the door.

.

He knew very well that he shouldn't be here. Not only did he fully support her hating him, even if she didn't, but she was close to him as Adrien and he could potentially let his identity slip. But she looked so sad, and he wanted her to be happy in the worst kind of way. Besides, it couldn't hurt to clear the air after Dark Cupid; he needed to offer her a formal apology instead of running away.

"Hello," he called down softly, hoping not to startle her. She jumped anyway as she turned to see him.

"Chat Noir?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"What are you doing here? Don't you have, like, 'superhero-y things' to do?"

"No. I don't feel like being a superhero tonight. And I also don't feel like being alone tonight." He offered her a small smile, waiting for her to turn him away. "Would you mind if I hung out here for a little while?" Surprisingly, she smiled back and nodded. "Marinette, right? We've bumped into each other before." He hung his head, remembering the ashes that were floating away as he regained consciousness.

"I should probably apologize for that," she giggled.

"_What?_" He had to have misheard her.

"I'm really glad my idea worked, but…" She looked up at him and it was like her eyes could see into his soul. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I knew the risk and I took it. That is _not_ on you." He smiled and looked away as a tear fell over his mask.

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely.

"Though, I'd rather kiss a mind controlled superhero than flirt with a supervillain," he smirked, remembering how she took on Evillustrator with him. "Talk about bad luck." Her shoulders drooped and she looked a bit defeated.

"Seriously, I seem to be having some bad luck in the love department myself."

"Really? What kind?" she asked. Always the concerned friend, even to a stranger.

"Well, tonight I had this special surprise all planned for Ladybug."

"You're in love with _Ladybug_? For real?"

"I didn't know her long, but…" He didn't have the right words, so he stopped talking and just watched the stars and the skyline. Marinette joined him at the rail. After a moment they shared a look and he knew she understood. He really wished she didn't.

"So, what was this special surprise?"

"It doesn't really matter, 'cause she never showed," he sighed.

"Sounds like you and I both need a bit of cheering up tonight."

"You…" Would it be unethical to ask as Chat Noir? "You've gotten your heart broken, too?"

"Yep," she nodded with that defeated look still on her face.. He smiled, remembering Felix's words. Perhaps the rooftop could be for Marinette; just to cheer her up. Adrien felt a little silly knowing he tried to set her up with Nino when she liked someone else

"Hey, come with me," he offered his hand trying to be smooth. Her smile was adorable. "Close your eyes and hold on tight, okay?" She trusted him wholly, smiling, as he jumped a few rooftops, and kept her eyes shut as they arrived. "Just give me a minute," he said as he went to relight the candles. "Alright, you can open your eyes now."

.

Opening her eyes, Marinette was blown away.

"Wow! Chat Noir! This is…beautiful!" The excitement died on her lips as she took note of his posture at the rail. _This is meant for Ladybug,_ she mentally corrected. "I'm so sorry."

"Why? It's not your fault."

She stammered a bit before stating she was sympathetic. If he only knew that it was her fault. She quickly dismissed the parallels she drew between this situation and the one from earlier when she threw Alya in a cage with Nino.

"She told me she probably wouldn't make it, but I had my fingers crossed. I really wanted her to come."

"Maybe she had a good reason for not coming-"

"Returning the miraculous," Chat Noir sighed before she could continue.

"Yeah, or- AHH! Look out!" she screamed pointing out a giant...snowman?

Chat was quick to act, shielding her from the projectile that was shot by the akuma and whisking her away.

"Marinette, party-pooper, you're looking so sad and surly!" yelled the akuma. "But, Glaciator will make it all better, don't you worry!"

"What on earth is that?" cried Chat Noir from their hiding place among the rooves. "Another supervillain in love with you?"

"No! That's...Andre the ice cream maker!"

"The sweethearts ice cream guy? He isn't looking too sweet right now."

"I...um...didn't have a love when we went to get ice cream as a group." Chat held her closely and jumped to her terrace, nodding for her to continue. "I may have gotten angry and said some mean things when he insisted 'Peach pink like his lips, and mint like his eyes, eat this, my dear, and your love will materialise!' I was already hurting! He was just rubbing it in. I know he was trying to be nice, but…" She stopped herself before she started crying. She couldn't believe she had caused an akuma. "Oh my goodness! I'm as bad as Chloe!"

"Go inside, Princess. I'll lead him away from you. And never compare yourself to Chloe again," he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You were hurt and spoke out, you're human. Hawkmoth is the one who took advantage of those human emotions."

She smiled softly at him, grateful for the kind words. As he started to run away, she grabbed his tail to stop him.

"Chat Noir!" He looked back. "Thanks for cheering me up."

"It was the least I could do."

"Wow!" chimed a soft high pitched voice. "I've never seen this sensitive side of Chat Noir before," Tikki declared as she floated up beside Marinette.

"Yeah, I wish I could take away his pain."

"You know...Chat Noir has mint eyes," Tikki said with a devious smile. "And _I_ haven't kissed him before, but I'd say his lips _look_ peach pink." Marinette turned every shade of red as she considered Tikki's implications. Tikki flew away to find Bridgette and transform.

.

"Hello, kitty. Did the bad guys leave you cold?" Ladybird asked as she caught Chat Noir.

"Yeah, pretty much," he sighed. "Find Tikki okay?"

"She found me. Said you and Ladybug had a good time."

"I've never tasted 'superhero' flavor before!" yelled Glaciator from down the street. "I can't wait to serve myself a double scoop!"

As Ladybird analyzed the situation, she could tell Chat was a little off. He had been since Dark Cupid struck, but was on the mend. Was he relapsing? Or was it because he missed Ladybug? He didn't even poke fun at her when she forgot what an ice cream scoop was called.

She was rallying to go save two civilians caught in the open when she noticed Glaciator wasn't attacking them. She was about to let Chat Noir know what she had just discovered when he jumped down and hit Glaciator with his staff, sinking it halfway through the ice cream monster. She covered him just in time to keep him from being frozen.

"He wasn't attacking couples!" she explained, keeping their cover up.

"So?"

"I don't know! It's just an observation… I'm a little clueless on how to fight something made of ice cream." Chat snorted.

"I think I hit something inside when my baton went through him."

"Andre didn't _turn_ into the monster! He's inside!"

"Maybe it's time to try a little luck?"

"LUCKY CHARM!" Ladybird cried as she threw her yoyo in the air.

A motorcycle powered propeller later and Gaciator was no more. Andre appeared surprisingly normal underneath all the ice cream.

.

While yesterday had a less than desirable ending, Felix was excited to get ice cream with his brother. Felix was doing his best to be good company, but he knew he didn't compare to Adrien's classmates. Adrien had planned on going with his friends to Andre's the previous night, but maybe missing out on that was okay since he avoided an akuma because of it.

Though, he was questioning whether to regret his decision when the ice cream as labeled 'sweetheart's ice cream.'

"Is your ice cream really magical?" Adrien asked hopefully. Felix rolled his eyes.

"What do you think?"

"I think you have to believe."

"You're spot on, son!" Felix just held his brow and waited for it to be over. "Blackberry ice cream for her hair and blueberry for her sky-blue stare! On the house!" He handed Adrien the double scoop. "Oh and for you-"

"You _really _don't have to."

"Nonsense! Candied cinnamon for her hidden flare and strawberry for the love she spreads everywhere!" The first scoop was a light brown with scattered red candies in it, while the one that topped it was pink.

With a smile that felt more like a grimace he accepted the concoction. He was surprised to discover that the spicy cinnamon ice cream tasted amazing and coupled with to almost-too-sweet strawberry well. He couldn't help but imagine what Bridgette would say about the combination-probably that it needed a topping, perhaps chocolate. Or maybe-

"There's love in both your eyes, Andre can see it clear as day! This love is true!"

"Have a good day," the brothers chorused together.

.

Chat Noir knocked gently on the hatch that led to Marinette's bedroom. He wasn't sure if he should be there, but he had to make sure she was alright. _Adrien_ didn't know that she had been upset, and while she thanked Chat Noir for cheering her up, he still wanted to check in on her.

"Chat Noir?" she asked as she opened the hatch yawning.

"Hey, Princess," he grimaced. Maybe he shouldn't have come.

"Is everything alright?" She climbed up to the terrace.

"Yeah, I just wanted to check on you. You seemed a bit better when I left last night, but I wanted to make sure that better stuck." He smirked when he saw a light smile reach her face.

"I am better. Thank you Chat."

"I should probably let you get back to bed."

"No, it's alright." She made herself comfortable on the lounge chair with a blanket. "Anything still bugging you?" He chuckled at her unintentional pun.

"Nah, I'm good." He leaned against the chair, careful not to touch her or invade her personal space. He wasn't always good about that as Adrien. "Who was it that broke your heart?" he whispered. "I could always wear a mask over my mask and go kick their butt." She laughed brightly as she pictured it.

"Just a guy from school. He barely knows I exist. I just fell for him a little too hard and a little too fast." Adrien figured he must be in another class, everyone in their class depended on Marinette way too much to 'barely know she existed.'

"I can relate." She snorted.

"I went back to Andre's today."

"Oh?"

"He gave me the same ice cream mix. It tasted amazing, but my brother and cousin were deciphering everyone who it could apply to." He laughed, knowing that those two could be relentless. "Yesterday someone even mentioned…" she trailed off. "Ohmygosh! I went to Andre's again today!"

"Yes…?"

"And _you're_ here!"

Chat blinked at her. She turned every shade of red.

"Do I really have 'peach pink' lips?"

She broke down laughing. He joined her.

"I mean, I guess I _did_ 'materialize.'"

Her laughter turned to wheezing.

"You were even able to break my curse."

There were now hiccups interspersed amongst the laughter.

She swatted him when he tried to make another comment.

Finally, she calmed.

"I guess if you need me, you'll just have to go to Andre's and I'll end up here. Unless my nose brings me here first. The bakery smells heavenly and I can scent it across the entire block."

"Well, you're always welcome," she smiled at him.

He stood and bowed, grabbing her hand to place a kiss on its back.

"It's been a pleasure, Princess. I can't wait to see you again."

"Well, what's a princess without a knight?"

They shared one last smile before he fled home.

Monday morning he paid close attention to any boys from other classes that she might be attempting to interact with.

_(A/N If you haven't caught on, I'm in the Marichat corner of the lovesquare. Though, I do love when protective Adrien shines through in Adrienette. Anyway, I thought these two episodes would go well together and I needed an excuse to get Chat Noir and Marienette to have a one-on-one about Dark Cupid. Plus, I just __**really**__ wanted to write this episode. :D Now I'm going to anxiously wait until I can fit Weredad into the story line!_

_I hope you enjoyed!)_


	17. Pixelator

_(A/N: I'm still here! I promise! I've hit __**a lot**__ of bumps in the road these past several months and apologize this fic to have suffered for it. I refuse to let it truly die, because I have so many future scenes already planned out and on rerun in my head. That being said, this is the only chapter I have complete atm, and it took a lot of willpower to grind it out. Long story short, I've been getting motion sickness from watching the show. Idk if it's because I'm __simultaneously__ writing or the animation or the proximity of the computer. A few games have been affecting me too... But I'm fairly optimistic that my affliction will end within the next month or two._

_ANYWAY...here is one chapter and a promise that others are to come, even if I do not know when!_

_Enjoy! I own nothing!)_

**Pixelator**

"What do you _mean_ I have to participate in _Adrien's_ class project?" Felix asked Nathalie hotly.

"Your father wishes for you to supervise your brother on their class outing and believes the project itself to be insightful."

"There will be a _teacher_ there to supervise him, and he can just send Gorilla, as usual. I am _not_ his _babysitter_! And if _Father_ wishes for me to experience a working environment, then he should _allow me_ to get a part time job!"

"He's stated before, he is more than willing for you to accept an apprenticeship inside _Gabriel_'s marketing division."

"I don't work for him," Felix ground out darkly.

"And today will be a good chance to experience what not working for him feels like," Nathalie replied in a detached manner as she dismissed herself from the brothers' breakfast table.

"Sorry, Fe," Adrien sighed.

"You need to put your foot down and stop modeling."

"As soon as I have access to my own accounts, everything I make from that will pay for my independence."

"_If_ you get access to it."

"I will. I get account balances, so I know I _am_ getting paid."

"He'll probably make you sign some legal nonsense that forces you to stay in the company before granting access."

"Nope. The bank has it set up that money can only go in until I turn 18, and then only I will have access. You act like this is all new information, Felix. I _know _you have one, too." Felix scoffed.

"I don't trust Father. I have no faith that I will ever see that money that has been sitting and waiting for me, no matter what the bank managers tell me." Adrien just rolled his eyes.

"Well, today will hopefully be interesting. But if you're supposed to be participating, I don't know how you'll 'babysit' me too." Felix cringed and gave Adrien a nonverbal apology. He had only been trying to make a point…

.

"Hey, Jade," Bridgette called for her friend's attention. "Where is Felix today?" She was looking worriedly to his empty seat.

"You're the one with his schedule memorized, not me," Jade quipped. Bridgette glared at her. "Honestly, I don't know. But Mrs. Dame didn't call him for attendance, so it's expected at least." Bridgette nodded and then considered her options.

She could text him. She hadn't done so yet, hoping he would initiate a conversation of his own free will. It'd only been two days, but she was a touch impatient.

She could get ahold of Marinette and have her quiz Adrien. Scratch that. She could get ahold of _Alya_ and have her quiz Adrien.

She could ignore his absence and use this opportunity to focus on her studies easier without him as a distraction. No, his absence itself was a distraction.

Bridgette heaved a sigh and pulled out her morning work. Hopefully today wouldn't require too much brain power.

.

"I bet I know who helped 'Daddy' make the assignments."

"_She_ gets to spend the entire day with Adrien. Ugh! This is gonna be the worst day ever!"

Marinette even managed to call that _before_ she and Alya were designated as a trash sorter and a 'gofer.' It seemed like the star and his assistant treated the fan a little rough, but that invasion of privacy was totally uncalled for.

Making her way to one of the maid areas Marinette found an unusual sight. Felix was arguing with someone in one of the offices. True, him arguing wasn't too unheard of, but she wasn't expecting to see him here, and the man he was arguing with seemed to be close to tears.

"I just don't understand how you can be managing a business if you don't _see_ what your employees are doing."

"For the last time! I don't need to _see_ to know if the customers are satisfied!"

"But-"

"Excuse me?" Marinette cut Felix off, "I'm part of Ms. Bustier's class and was wondering where I should go if I'm designated as a 'gofer?'"

"Ah, yes. I'll give you a list of our high-profile clients and it will be your job to check on them to see if they require anything. That is, unless they request not to be disturbed."

"So, what am I supposed to do all day? Just follow you around?"

"I don't see why Mr. Bourgeois gave any of you children this position. If the hotel is poorly managed, _even for a day_, the consequences could be catastrophic!"

"Well," Marinette interjected again, "why don't _you_ follow _Felix_ around and make sure none of his decisions would lead to catastrophe. He'd get the management experience, and you would sign off only on his acceptable decisions."

"That...is not a bad idea," the man conceded.

"Thank you Marinette," Felix nodded.

She gave a smile and took her list. Noticing Jagged Stone's name she decided to visit him first to make sure he was okay after the fan attack earlier that morning.

.

Adrien was thankful Chloe gave Felix a management position. They usually respected each other, but it was easily considered a strained relationship. Felix would likely have gone insane in some of the other, more personable positions.

He was much less thankful that he was stuck behind the front desk with her. They were friends, but she was so clingy. He knew every attempt at a picture and every overenthusiastic hug was based on her lonesome childhood, but that didn't make it less annoying, just more tolerable. He remembered when they played together like normal children, with dolls and bouncy balls and cars. Then, when Audrey's visits became even less frequent, Chloe started taking note of how the 'Fashion Queen' acted and what she paid attention to. Adrien was less than impressed with her mimicry. Not to mention her 'doting' father. Money was the only attention he knew how to give. It wasn't like _his _father was much better, but growing up he had both his mother and Felix.

With a deep sigh Adrien tried to smile for another photo as he watched Marinette leave the lobby. He envied that freedom, but was a tad concerned when she ran out the second time.

When a photographer in blue came in he was again less than impressed with Chloe's behavior. Just as the photographer went to take her picture Adrien realized what was wrong.

"Look out, Chloe!" He tried to tackle her to the ground, but looked around and discovered he was in a white abyss. Hopefully Ladybird could handle things herself while he looked for a way out. And hopefully Chloe would eventually stop following him.

.

Marinette was waiting for the elevator worrying about if Jagged Stone would like her latest attempt at the shades he envisioned. She loved his style, but when one person had an idea it was often difficult for another to replicate it.

Just as the door dinged open Marinette heard a buzzing behind her and saw an akuma and a blinding flash of light.

Pocketing her phone, she immediately dialed her brother.

"Excuse me?" she asked innocently. "Are you looking for Mr. Stone?"

"Why yes. I'm a huge fan. Are you?" His voice set her on edge, but she pulled the strings of her panic together to formulate a plan.

"Yes! I'm super jealous of my cousin today."

"Oh? How about a picture? It's nice to meet other fans."

"It'd be _so cool_ to get a picture and autograph from _the Jagged Stone_," she continued, ignoring him. She didn't know what would happen if he _did_ take her picture, but she was hoping she didn't find out.

.

He was on his way to lunch when his phone bagan vibrating in his pocket.

_Marinette._

It could be nothing. She could have accidentally dialed him. She could be catastrophizing about something silly. She could be asking him to bring her lunch at the hotel she was working at for the day.

It could be important. She could be hurt. Bridgette could be hurt. Chloe could be bullying her and she needs someone to walk her through a panic attack. There could be an akuma. Alya could be hurt.

Rolling his eyes he answered on the last ring.

"Hey, Mar-"

"- and autograph from _the Jagged Stone_," she sounded a bit muffled.

"What?"

"I couldn't agree more," came an eerie voice. "I'm here to get one now."

"Oh, he's not here." Anthony listened intently, trying to figure out what was going on. "Jagged Stone is at my cousin's private school across town doing a meet and greet. That's why I'm super jealous." Marinette's voice was strained with controlled panic.

"Thank you for the information. Now, look into the lens."

"Wai-"

The line went dead.

What was that about? Jagged Stone wasn't at Bridgette's school. She would have told him. And why was Marinette so panicky? And the man sounded...off. Almost like…

He dialed Alya.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I think an akuma has Marinette!" he stated without preamble. He was now running to the hotel.

"What?!"

"Where is she supposed to be? I'm on my way now."

"She could be anywhere! She's a 'go-for.'" Cursing he entered the hotel.

"Lobby is empty. Something is wrong."

"I'll set off the alert."

"I'll keep looking for Marinette."

.

Today required very little brain power. Her mastery of French had flourished under Felix's tutelage and all of the content centered around things she was already familiar with. She spent a lot of time running numbers in marginal equations, trying to figure out how much she could save up and how much she would need to borrow to set up her own business after graduation. If she could manage to return to the bakery that would be much easier. Her grades were improving, but she was still taking time out of her week to work with Felix on reading English. She didn't want to give up her time with him, but he might decide he'd had enough of the sessions and end them himself; frankly she was surprised he hadn't yet.

As her attention wavered once again she drew a few doodles amid her notes, connecting things she thought important with cute flowery vines. As the alarm went off in the school she jumped, running a scribble through half her page.

"Akuma!"

She heard screams on the campus, but couldn't identify exactly where they were coming from. Slipping out of the panicked mob of students she made her way to a secluded spot to transform.

"Ah, you must be Ladybird. I've heard such pathetic things about you."

The akuma began shooting at her. She didn't know exactly what the beams did, but she knew the few people who had been hit as she was arriving had disappeared. Most of the crowd scattered as she scrambled to avoid his barrage. At one point, as she wound up to throw her yo-yo, her right arm was hit. Its appearance became strange and she found she could pass her hand through it. It took a lot of willpower to maintain her composure when she discovered that.

The akuma, Pixelator, was spouting some nonsense about finding Jagged Stone and immortalizing him. Amid his ranting she deciphered someone had told him the start was here. Part of her wanted to tear into the individual for sending an akuma to a school, while the other part was thankful she heard about it. There have been a handful of occurrences where either she or Chat Noir have failed to show up to a battle because they did not know it was taking place.

She had to retreat to strategize what to do with only one working arm. She hoped Chat would show up while she led the akuma away from the school, but she had no luck in that regard. Pulling the Ladyblog up on her compact she noticed the hotel was the epicenter for the attack.

_That's where Marinette's class was!_

Catching up with a buzzing Alya and a resigned Anthony she had them fill her in on what had been going on. The three made their way to Jagged Stone's room while the civilians explained the situation. When there was a wail from the room ahead Ladybird jumped into action.

Apparently Pixelator was retracing his steps and had found the rock star. He had even managed to 'take a picture' of his beloved crocodile, Fang. She needed to get Jagged somewhere safe. She hated that that meant leaving Anthony behind.

The safest place she could think of for the rockstar was a school, and her cousins' school was fairly close by. Hearing about the fan's habits was a bit creepy. Coping with her missing appendage was annoying. Listening to Jagged fail just as obviously as she had in regards to their opinion of school was amusing.

.

Maybe Adrien was having a touch too much fun picking on Chloe about being scared, but he needed to find a way to lose her and transform. It was probably karma that launched her onto his back when a crocodile appeared in the white landscape with them.

.

Felix felt it best to step aside and let the actual manager handle the akuma situation. It was obvious one had been in the building and may still be there. He did not know their protocols, so he simply took notes as the manager highlighted who seemed to be affected. The customers subjected to the danger would be offered a discount as well as access to professional help should they need it. The employees were expected to file reports on what they had seen and been doing during the duration of the attack.

"Is the psychiatric help offered to them as well?" Felix asked.

"If they are the specific target, yes."

"But now if they are otherwise harmed."

"No.," he pursed his lips. "I've attempted to implement a weekly mental health prompt to ensure anyone who needs help is recognised, but that has been a...hazardous topic with Mr. Bourgeois."

Felix scowled. He'd have to speak to the man about this, possibly even involve his father. His scowl deepened as he considered that conversation.

.

Adrien finally saw a _very_ welcome sight: Ladybird's face. Granted she was ginormous, but if anyone could get them out of this situation it was her. It also meant she was not captured.

"What are you two doing in there?" she asked.

"Ladybird! Remember me? Your biggest fan! Please, please get us out of here. It's terrible in here!" Chloe cried, still clinging to his arm. He couldn't agree more with her assessment. Chloe may be his oldest friend, but she was a 'small doses' friend.

Ladybird left his field of vision and he barely heard the voices of others who he assumed were trapped. He heard her gasp and assumed she must have seen someone she knew.

The guilt crushed him when he heard her run off saying, "I sure hope Chat Noir is there already."

.

Marinette hated feeling useless. She gave up the miraculous for a reason, but this was _awful_! She could be out there battling the foe! She took a deep breath recalling spending time with her partner when Bridgette mentioned him as she left. This wasn't her fight anymore.

.

Anthony watched the news with Alya. When Nadja Chamack disappeared they looked at each other for a moment before sprinting out the door. Marinette had really found his kindred spirit for a best friend and he liked what that said about their relationship as siblings.

"Got an itchy trigger finger, eh?" Ladybird asked as Alya streamed the confrontation.

Anthony focused on getting stills of the heroine, specifically her right arm, which had something strange going on. He also made a note of capturing the civilians and police force cheering her on.

She seemed to be playing defence a lot more than usual, dodging his many attacks and looking for some cover. Her left handed aim had much to be desired when she threw her yoyo.

"I have a proposition to make," she stuttered just before being hit while cornered. The akuma hesitated. "If you free those innocent people, I'll organize a photo shoot with Jagged Stone." She smiled as he thought over her proposal.

They agreed to half before and half after. Anthony wondered if Chat was one of those trapped.

It only took a moment after the pixels spread for the feline hero to show up.

Anthony was hardly breathing as he shot him sneaking up behind the villain while Bridgette stalled. Right before Chat Noir got to the glasses…

"Yeah! Go, Chat Noir!"

One of the bystanders alerted the akuma to his presence. Anthony drug his hand down his face while Alya groaned beside him.

.

"Together!" yelled Ladybird as she sent her yoyo at the akuma.

Chat jumped high to attack from a different angle, only to meet a white floor with white surroundings.

"Ugh, not again!"

.

Anthony thought Jagged's stalling tactics were brilliant as he adjusted his angles and lighting. It showed how many photo shoots the star had done. He made sure to get a still of every pose Jagged did while antagonizing the akuma.

.

Chat Noir had just enough time to acknowledge that others had been free with his Cataclysm before he heard Ladybird call out, "Batter up!"

The mirror sent Pixelator to his own photo dimension, leaving the akumatized glasses behind.

.

Felix had had a long talk with the mayor when the akuma was taken care of. He was pleased to see it left him slightly nerved for the rest of the day. He was glad Adrien had received a ticket to the concert, but had declined one of his own; he didn't want to intrude on his brother's time with friends.

"Up for some pastries?"

He was surprised to hear the familiar voice when the younger class filed out.

"Excuse me?"

"If you're not going to the concert I could use some help weeding through the photos I took today. Plus I know Bridgette would love for you to come over." Anthony's offer seemed genuine, and he would like an excuse to avoid going home straight away.

"I'd like that," he said briskly.

"Cool," he answered with a smile, leading the way to his family's patisserie.

Bridgette, of course, tripped when she entered a short while later. He smiled to himself behind his coffee as she gaped at his presence. Yes, he liked the Cheng cousins.


	18. Darkblade

_(A/N I'm back! The fic's pulse may be faint, but it lives still! _

_I'm so sorry I haven't gotten to it recently, but after my (forced) hiatus from this piece I just couldn't get back into it in the depth I had been before. That being said, I've made the decision to not do **all** the episodes. Just the important ones for my story. I mean, there are over 70 episodes, so I shouldn't have planned to do all of them, but I was hoping to add character growth and fluff into the unnecessaries. _

_The timeline will continue to be screwy and suiting my own needs._

_If you have any episodes you feel like **must **be in this fic let me know and I'll be sure to work them in. I already have my own list, but yours is important too._

_This is the only chapter I have for you at the moment, but I hope to be back to writing regularly soon. I will make no promises I cannot keep though._

_I hope you enjoy!)_

**Darkblade**

"_Marinette_! How secret can you make a journal?" Bridgette asked as she poked her in the side. "You're going to be late."

"I'm _fine_ Bridgette. And I don't want anyone getting ahold of my diary. It has some...sensitive stuff in it."

"Sure," she rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't want anyone to know _just _how many Christmas presents you've made for Adrien."

"Test it out!" With a red face Marinette held up her box and diary for Bridgette to take.

"If your box doesn't work I reserve the right to read this."

"It'll work." They shared a smile and the box clamped shut over Bridgette's hand.

"Too bad, I was looking forward to your waxing poetry on Adrien," she teased.

"Hey!" Marinette stuck out her tongue in retaliation.

"Let's _go_!" Anthony called from downstairs.

Marinette unlocked Bridgette and they joined him, leaving the bakery with an assortment of breakfast items.

"What took you so long?"

"Marinette and her diary."

Anthony got quiet as they said their farewells to Bridgette and Marinette was a bit concerned.

"I never read it," he whispered before they split to go to their separate classrooms.

"I know," she replied just as quietly.

"But I can guess what's in it, can't I?" She nodded. "And Bridgette?"

"It's safe. She's safe. I promise."

"I trust you, but be careful Marinette."

.

"Private fencing practice today, boys." Felix and Adrien both already knew the schedule, so they had Nathalie pretty much tuned out.

"Can you believe Mr. D'Argencourt ran for mayor?" Adrien asked. "It would be so strange for our fencing teacher to be in office."

"More strange than your childhood friend's father."

"Touche," he said with a grin. Felix rolled his eyes at the pun.

After dropping off Adrien the Gorilla took him to his school where he was greeted with an enthusiastic Bridgette.

"I brought you a coffee, Felix!" she said with a sunshine smile.

"That's not necessary, Bridgette."

"If it were _necessary_ I wouldn't have done it. Just to spite you." She looked at him with a smug smile as he fought a smirk.

"Felix! Hey."

"Jade. How are you?"

"Doing well. Tell me, does Damen owe me 10 euros?"

"Why would I know if he owes you money?"

"Eh, we have a bet on how long it takes you to go out with Bridgette."

Felix began choking on his coffee as Bridgette turned bright red beside him.

.

"You're joking, right? You can't run for class rep."

"And _why not_?"

"Because you didn't know how to stand up for yourself until this year. How are you supposed to stand up for others?"

The siblings were eating lunch together in Marinette's room. Bridgette had called and claimed to be murdering her best friend, so it was just the two of them.

"I think I have _plenty_ of experience standing up for others. Thank you very much."

"_No_," he drawled, "Ladybug does. Not Marinette. What would you want to do as representative anyway?"

"Get out from under Chloe's reign for one thing."

"Well, that's a campaign slogan I can get behind."

They shared a laugh as Alya called and Anthony went downstairs to watch the news. Mrs. Chamack was tailing Mr. D'Argencourt during a fencing lesson.

"**To think, not so long ago my ancestors' flag was waving above Paris."**

"**Is that why you ran in the election, Mr. D'Argencourt? To seek revenge on your ancestor's behalf?"**

"Mom," he found her in the Patiserie and turned the news on there too.

"Yes, Sweetheart?"

"You've _got _to talk to Nadia about personal boundaries."

"Oh?"

"And _now_ she's being chased from school grounds."

"_What_?!" Sabine looked up to watch calling the attention of her immediate customers to the TV as well.

No one noticed the redhead slip up the stairs.

.

Chat was often glad he had so many extra curriculars. They kept him in shape and his mind sharp. Right now, he could not express his gratitude for his fencing lessons enough. While his baton was no rapier, he was doing a decent job at stalling Darkblade. If only Ladybird would show up.

At least he knew the Akuma was headed to City Hall.

.

Marinette was appalled that Jagged Stone was being used as a bribe, annoyed when Chloe approached her, and horrified when she saw her diary box around Sabina's hand.

True, the box functioned as intended. But it was a new invention and if they found a way to unlock it so many Miraculous secrets (_including her and Bridgette's identities_) would be handed over to the blonde brat on a pink, flowery platter.

.

Bridgette felt herself going cross eyed as she looked over the letters-no longer were they scribbles-on the page in front of her. The book was a children's book about a giant red dog. The pictures told her as much. She made out the names, Clifford and Emily Elizabeth, but the words were so difficult. There were extra words everywhere as she tried to piece together a sentence. And she couldn't figure out which articles went with which nouns. And she was on the verge of tears.

It was a _children's book_! With more _pictures_ than _words_!

"Hey." She gasped as his hand met her shoulder. "You're doing fine." She could only shake her head at him, unable to find her voice. "No. You _are_. I'm your teacher, so if I had a criticism I would offer it openly." She gave him a small, watery smile. "You've got the sound recognition down, it's just putting everything together. English is a Germanic language, so it won't come too easily." This time she snorted at his encouragement.

"You say that like French is easy."

"_You _say _that_ like Madarin is easy."

"Touche," she whispered, still not trusting her voice.

An alert came up on her phone and she saw the Ladyblog was streaming.

"**-shalt fly over thy kingdom. Bourgeoi, pathetic knave, come hither and do battle!"**

"**What did he say?"** The voice of the mayor came from offscreen.

"**Basically,"** Alya's answer was also from offscreen, "**he's gonna bust you up."**

"**Ask my secretary for an appointment."**

They both suppressed chuckles as City Hall's doors slammed shut.

"I suppose you want to check on your brother?"

"He was in a private lesson with Mr. D'Argencourt, who I'm guessing is…" he gestured at the phone. She hummed in response as she nodded her understanding. He stood and offered her a hand. "Will you be going after your cousin?" They could hear Marinette barking orders on Alya's stream.

"Anthony, yes. He has a gift for getting into trouble when he doesn't need to be and Marinette seems to be handling the situation well for the time being."

"Then I guess we'll part ways…"

"Yeah… And Felix?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

She ducked her head and ran before he could reply. Once again, Paris needed Ladybird.

.

"Checking out Chat Noir?" Alya whispered in her ear at the window.

"Checking _on_ Chat Noir," Marinette blushed, relieved Alya's phone was not recording anymore.

Alya shrugged as she led them from the window and a red spotted figure swung in.

"Is everything alright in here?"

"Ladybird! Say 'hello' to the Ladybloggers," Alya held up her phone out again.

"Ms. Cesaire? Now?"

"Sorry Ladybird," she cringed.

"We're alright," Marinette stepped forward. "Chat Noir has been holding them off."

Ladybird nodded. "Get somewhere safe."

Marinette ushered the class after Mr. Bourgeoi, but stayed behind as Ladybird dropped her compact out the window and fished Chat Noir into the hallway. He tumbled and landed in an upside down criss cross.

"Sorry, Chat Noir. I was on the other side of town and didn't get the alert right away. Marinette was doing damage control on the inside though."

"I was managing just fine by myself, you know. But it's always nice to see you, LB. And as much as I love seeing you Princess, you should be hiding."

"Princess?" Ladybird giggled.

"I-uh…" How does she say Bridgette's identity is in danger without revealing said identity and outing herself as Ladybug. "I had to check on my knight?"

Ladybird laughed outright at that.

"Is there something I'm missing here."

"The Dupain-Cheng Patisserie has the best pastries. I might take advantage of my superhero status every now and then," Chat grinned, but his eyes said something different. A shared joke. A sweet treat.

Marinette shook her head to clear it and then left out a shout, pointing a finger at the armored victims who were about to climb into the window.

"Strike!" Chat Noir called out as they knocked the towers of knights over.

"Go," Ladybird said softly to Marinette, gesturing to where her class had disappeared to. She bit her lip as some of the knights were airborne.

"Why are they going on the roof?" asked Chat.

"Well, at least some of them," Ladybird watched on hit the building's side.

"The flag," Marinette offered.

"Hide," the heroes said as one.

She finally nodded and ran off down the hall.

.

Bridgette stilled as she heard a thump on the roof. Marinette hummed beside her with a smile playing at her lips. She was writing in her diary again. She'd informed (read: bragged) to Bridgette about how her box trap had worked earlier that day. A scuff sounded above them and she finally smiled.

"Did you hear that?"

"Mm-hm. Come on." Marinette tucked her diary away and pulled Bridgette up the ladder to their balcony.

"Hello again, Princess."

"Chat Noir," she grinned as Bridgette joined them.

"Oh? This must be...a dutchess?" Marinette laughed at his unsaid question.

"This is my cousin, Bridgette. We share a room."

"The family resemblance is uncanny," he smirked.

"Uhh…" She had a lot of questions. Did he visit often? Were they flirting? Did Marinette know who he was? _Did Marinette know who __**she**_ _was_?

"I think you broke her Chat! And here I thought you heart belonged to-"

"_Marinette!_" Marinette laughed at her outburst and relaxed against the rail beside where Chat Noir perched. "So you two…?"

"Chat saved me more times than I can count. And he's come to check on me a few times after some pretty bad akumas."

"D-Dark-?" Her voice cut off before she could finish his name. She could still see Marinette leaping in between them as darkness crept up her side.

Chat's entire being shifted as he remembered. He dropped and leaned away from her as a pained expression crossed his face. Tears were even in his eyes before he squeezed them shut. Marinette landed a hand on his knee, which made him jump and recoil more, pulling his hand as far from her as possible.

"Even before that, actually," Marinette chimed as if she couldn't see their displeasure. "Evillustrator targeted me specifically and he didn't have Ladybird to back him up then." She squinted her eyes. "Wait…" She shook her head just as Bridgette remembered Marinette had never told her about that.

"She's helped me too…" Chat said in a bit of a broken voice before clearing his throat. "But _today_ I wanted to ask '_What were you thinking_?!'"

"Huh?"

"You should have been hiding with the rest of your class!" He looked to Bridgette. "Dutchess, can you believe she was loitering by Ladybird and me while the knights were _coming in the window_?"

"What?" she tried to act incredulous.

"It's not like it's the first time I was trying to help with an akuma attack. _You _came to _me_ for Evillustrator."

"After you were _targeted_, not just because you could."

"I'm going to bed!" Bridgette announced before her world could get any smaller. Honestly! Her cousin seemed _close_ to her _partner_. Next thing she knew and she'd find out Chat Noir was a classmate or something.

The unlikely pair laughed at her departure but she noticed Chat never relaxed after she'd brought up Dark Cupid.


End file.
